RWBYS: Blood is Thicker
by march4fun
Summary: She has lived in darkness for longer than she can remember, needing only a blade in her hand and the strength to keep moving. Her life changed when the Headmaster of Beacon accepted her. He gave her a home and a chance to atone, to become better than what she was. But her teammates... they gave her something precious to fight for. M for blood, violence, language, and squicky stuff
1. Prologue

**AN: Hello all! Welcome to my first attempt at a RWBY fanfiction. This is a long time in the making and I hope you guys like it. As a general rule going forward, I will be covering the story of the series from Volume 1 onward. If I don't directly address something, just assume it happened the same way it did in canon.**

 **Warning - This story is not for kids. Specific cautions will be placed in front of relevant chapters, but this story will earn it's M rating.**

 **RWBY and it's characters all belong to Rooster Teeth. OC belongs to me.**

 **Cover art was provided by the lovely Cladmented.**

 **With that said, I hope you enjoy!**

 **PS - apparently, Matte Skye from the ship in Volume 4 is non-binary, so I have taken that into account for this chapter.**

* * *

 **Ocean between Mistral and Vale.**

The _Constance_ was a reliable and well-made ocean liner. She made regular runs between Vale, Mistral, and Menagerie, carrying cargo and passengers wherever they needed to go. For almost ten years, she had done her job beautifully. Captain Persimmon was proud of his vessel and it was because of him that she's been running as long as she had.

The captain gave a pleased sigh as he kept hold of the ship's wheel. So far, this voyage from Mistral to Vale had been a calm and pleasant one. He turned back to the person at his side.

"How we doing, Matte?"

The caramel-skinned First Mate looked from the display screen they were staring at and smiled.

"Everything is green across the board, Captain. Engines are fully functioning and all our passengers are having a good time. Things are smooth sailing." Off to their side, the new navigator Grullo nodded in agreement. This was his first voyage aboard the _Constance_ , but he had a very promising and extensive resume. Captain Persimmon was sure that it wouldn't take long for Grullo to fit right in.

"Great to hear," Persimmon said. "I'm gonna go chat with the passengers for a bit. Anything happens, just call me back up. Matte, you have the wheel."

"Aye aye, sir," Matte Skye said as they took his place at the helm. He nodded to them and made his way down to the main deck.

Leaning against the ship railing, he took a moment to just smile and look out over the passengers he and his crew were responsible for. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Some adults were taking the opportunity to sunbathe while others were merely talking and enjoying some of the fruity drinks provided on the voyage. He dodged to the side as a group of children tore down the deck, followed by a livid looking mother. Persimmon chuckled and glanced at the ocean. He had sailed all over the world and seen its many wonders, from the golden dunes of Vacuo to the high mountains of Vale, but nothing could quite match the beauty of the open sea.

 _Wait…_

Persimmon stared out at the sea again. There was a dot on the horizon, and he strained his eyes to make out what it was.

Correction, it was a rapidly growing dot that was heading right for them.

Persimmon felt his heart drop into his stomach and a chill crawled up his spine. There was only one reason that another vessel would be heading straight toward them at breakneck speeds. He spun and dashed for the ramp leading up to the bridge. He needed to get to the controls and bring the ship's guns to bear. These passengers were his responsibility and he'd be damned if he let a pack of pirates harm a single hair on their heads.

"Matte!" he shouted as he took the stairs two at a time. "Get the guns ready! More power to the engines! We've got some very unfriendly comp-"

The sight of the bridge brought him to a stop and made the words die in his throat. He saw Matte lying on the deck, a trickle of blood coming from their temple. He saw Grullo standing over them and giving Persimmon a look of smug satisfaction. He saw the dark pistol that Grullo was pointing at his heart. Persimmon's hands balled into fists and he grit his teeth.

"You little shit…" he snarled.

"Now, now," Grullo said, wagging a finger in admonishment, "don't you be getting any ideas 'Captain'. Somebody might get hurt."

"What do you want, Grullo?" Persimmon spat.

"For this business to go as smoothly as possible," he answered. "Grab the bitch," he said, indicating Matte.

"Their name is Matte," Persimmon said as he bent down to pick them up.

"I don't care," said Grullo before prodding Persimmon in the back with his pistol. "Now move. Let's go make sure everyone stays nice and calm."

Squaring his shoulders, Persimmon made his way down the steps to the ship's main deck, half carrying and half dragging Matte. He jumped in surprise when Grullo fired two rounds into the air, making the passengers scream in fright and back away from them.

"Good day, ladies and gentlemen!" Grullo called out as he escorted his two hostages down to the main deck. At the side of the ship, his men were pulling themselves onto the deck with grappling hooks and then pointing their guns at the passengers, bunching them up at the stern. "We will be your mid-voyage entertainment! We specialize in brutal violence against those who do not do what we fucking tell them to do exactly when we fucking tell them to do it!" To punctuate his statement, he fired a further two bullets in the air, making the crowd panic and crouch low. The other pirates strode slowly through the hostages, enforcing compliance with a well-placed kick or shove. "You're probably thinking we're here to rob the ship, and you're actually wrong," Grullo continued. "We are here for all of _you._ We're certain that you all have family somewhere would be most grateful for your safe return. All you need to do to get out of this alive is everything we tell you to do. If you don't," he shrugged theatrically, "we'll shoot you dead and toss you to the sharks."

Persimmon gently set Matte down on the deck and glared at Grullo.

"If you think for one second that I'm just going to let you take-"

 _SMACK_

One of the pirates cracked Persimmon in the side of the head with the butt of his rifle, knocking him flat to the ground. When his eye cleared, he found himself looking down the barrel of Grullo's pistol.

"Go ahead, old man," he said with a smile. "Make my day." He turned to the other pirates. "Some of you should head below deck. There might be some stragglers. And somebody bring me Satisfaction." A few men nodded and threw open the hatch leading down and descended into the cabin deck.

Persimmon felt his heart sink.

* * *

The pirates moved through the hallways of the passenger deck, slamming doors open one by one. Most of the cabins were empty, but they did come across a few stragglers. Every time they found a cabin with passengers in it, one of the pirates would 'escort' them to the top deck so they could be held with all the others. Eventually, there remained only two pirates of the initial group. As they turned a corner, they caught sight of a single figure leaning heavily against the wall.

The young woman was dressed in clothes that had clearly seen their fair share of travel. She had worn black boots, faded jeans with torn knees, and a ripped maroon hoodie pulled over a black long sleeved shirt. The pirates took a worrying glance at the bandolier of shotgun shells that hung across her torso. Her black hair was pulled back into a ponytail except for two bangs that hung on either side of her face. She had mocha-colored skin and classic features, pretty but not quite knock-down gorgeous. Her looks were somewhat marred by a long, curving scar that extended from the right corner of her mouth to just beneath her ear. Her blood-red eyes eyed them up and down as she lifted a travel flask to her lips and took a long sip.

"Heeeeyyyy guys…" she drawled, giving them a dopey smile. "What's up with the fireworks on deck? Are we having a party or some shit? Cause I am _ready_!" She laughed and took another sip from her flask. The pirates looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Must be a kid on school break," one said.

"At least she won't be any trouble," the other one muttered as he made his way toward her. "Alright, sweetheart, we're gonna go back up to the deck now. I'm gonna need you to come with me, okay?"

"Sure thing, big guy," she said, pushing herself off of the wall to latch onto him. "Just one thing."

"What's that?" he asked, rolling his eyes. The girl giggled.

"Watch your head."

Faster than a darting snake, her hand shot out to wrap around the back of his neck and pulled. The man was already off balance after having her throw herself at him, so he was unable to resist her force. He slammed face-first into the steel wall and dropped to the floor. The remaining pirate stared down at his unconscious partner before looking up at the assailant. The girl scowled at him, taking on a suddenly intimidating posture. All traces of the giggling drunk were gone. Everything about the girl standing in front of him screamed ' _Predator_ '.

Almost faster than he could keep track of, she bounded forward. The girl leaped into the air and grabbed a pipe that was running across the ceiling. The pirate managed to get one shot off before she swung forward, but the bullet didn't touch her. Her leg snapped out and slammed into his face. He dropped to the floor, groaning as the world swam before him. When his sight cleared, he saw the girl standing over him, glaring down at him with her deep red eyes.

 _Glug-glug-glug-glug_

The girl blinked in surprise and looked down at the flask in her hand. A hole had been punched clean through and whatever drink was in there was dripping out onto the floor. With a snarl, she tossed the ruined flask over her shoulder before grabbing him by the collar and lifting him up off the ground. His feet kicked uselessly in the air, desperate to reacquaint themselves with the deck.

"You spilled my drink, asshole," she growled.

"Put him down!"

The pirate and the girl looked to the side to see more pirates coming down the hallway, rifles and pistols trained on her.

The girl smiled.

* * *

Persimmon, the passengers, and all of the pirates jumped in surprise when they heard a gunshot from below decks. The captain's heart sank as the other pirates chuckled amongst themselves, finding humor in the fact that one of his passengers had been killed.

They would pay for this, he swore. They would _all_ pay for this.

Then there were more gunshots, followed by screams of fright. Screams that sounded like they came from the throats of grown men. Some of those screams were long and drawn out, but others were suddenly silenced. The pirates on the deck went quiet, all of them looking nervously at the closed door leading below deck.

The sounds stopped. For a few long moments, the pirates just looked back and forth between each other before looking at Grullo. The man scowled at his men.

"You!" he snapped, pointing at one pirate. "Check below deck. Find out what's going on."

The man shivered, but readied his gun in preparation. He slowly crept toward the door and reached out with a trembling hand for the handle. He twisted and pulled the door open.

BOOM!

The unlucky pirate was sent flying away from the door and over the side of the ship before anyone could blink.

Out of the now-vacated doorway, Persimmon saw a teenage girl stride out as if she owned the world. She held a strange shotgun in her hand, looking like the weapon had been completely straightened out and had the bronze handle of a cutlass placed on the end. From the grip upward, the weapon was wrapped in dark wood with a black barrel protruding at the front.

The girl eyed the pirates with distaste and twirled the shotgun in her hand, simultaneously pulling on the cutlass guard. It swung out like a lever, expelling a spent cartridge with a metallic cocking sound. The shell clacked against the deck before it came to a stop, hints of smoke still rising from within. She rested the gun against her shoulder and just stood there, locking eyes with Grullo.

"Who's next?" she asked.

"Who the fuck are you?!" Grullo demanded. "You really think that you can just come up here and-"

BANG!

Grullo reeled back, holding his head and crying in pain. Persimmon looked back at the girl to see she was holding a large pistol in her hand, aimed right at Grullo. He hadn't even seen her move. The traitor in question lowered his hands to show a bleeding wound on his forehead and death in his eyes. The man must have used his Aura to protect himself. The bullet just ricocheted off of his head instead of drilling through it.

"Hmm," the girl said, holstering the pistol across the back of her hips. "Guess we're not doing things the easy way." She flicked her shotgun out to the side. With a sharp SHING, a crescent shaped blade snapped out from beneath the barrel of the gun. The blade of black metal dropped from the underside of the gun before swooping up to point to the sky. Both sides of the blade gleamed razor sharp.

"Shoot her!" Grullo shouted.

By the time his men processed the order, the girl was already on them.

The first man was kicked overboard while one of his fellows leapt forward with a hand axe. The girl's sword sliced through the shaft of the axe before she cracked the pommel against his temple, sending him to the ground.

The other pirates opened fire, but she continued her charge. Any bullets that she couldn't dodge were deflected with her sword. She broke through their lines, cutting left and right with her sword and kicking or punching whenever she had to.

Within moments, all the other pirates were lying on the deck or struggling in the sea. The girl stood before Grullo, holding her sword pointed at him.

"You have one chance to give up," she said in a dark voice. "I suggest you consider it."

In response, Grullo just smirked and grabbed the device on his back. It was a steel rod that one of the pirates had brought for him a few minutes ago. With a click and the sound of whirring gears, the rod telescoped outward to form a quarterstaff. With a second click, one of the ends snapped apart to form three sharp spikes arranged in a circle around the pole. He leveled his now-transformed trident at her.

"Let's dance," he said.

BANG!

The head of the trident launched forward right at the girl's face. With a gasp of surprise, she snapped backward, leaning back as far as she could. The trident head missed her by an inch. The girl fell as her center of gravity tipped off balance, but Grullo was already charging. The trident head was being reeled back in toward his weapon, courtesy of a cable it had been attached to. It connected with the rest of his weapon with a snap and he stabbed it down at the girl's chest. She rolled to the side, letting the weapon imbed itself in the deck, and lashed out with her foot, kicking Grullo in the face and knocking him off balance. As he tried to regain his feet, she jackknifed upward and swung her sword at him, but the staff of the trident blocked her strike.

"Satisfaction has never let me down," Grullo said with a cocky smile.

The girl just grit her teeth and disengaged from the standoff, moving her sword into a defensive stance. When he came at her, he came swinging. His strikes were wide and fast, but he clearly wasn't trained. Unfortunately, that same speed made it difficult for her to counterattack. Whatever direction her strikes came from, his trident was always there to block.

"This is starting to annoy me," she grumbled before swinging at him again. In mid-strike, however, she twisted the blade around, hooking onto the shaft of his trident before pulling, trying to get him off balance again. Grullo surprised her, however, and moved with the motion. His forehead connected with her face with a loud SMACK. She let out a choked cry of pain before lifting her blade to block his overhead strike. Grullo grinned at her as he pressed down on her guard, his weapon weighing down on the inside of the curve. Her left hand was supporting the blade, but the added weight made her palm slide on the edge. She winced as blood dripped from her opened palm.

"Guess your Aura's all gone, girlie," Grullo said with a smile. "Should have known better than to-"

The girl kicked Grullo in the groin and the rest of his boast was lost in a high-pitched whine. He hobbled away to try and give himself enough distance to recover. The girl simply stood there and glared at him. She lifted her injured hand and opened her fingers, her palm pointing to the sky.

Before the eyes of everyone on the ship, blood rose from her wound to twist and flow in the air. Grullo himself could only stare in awe as the blood coalesced together to form a simple single-edged sword. The hilt was small and only barely longer than her closed fist while the blade was as thin as a razor. There was a soft glow as the wound on the girl's palm was healed before she plucked the blood sword out of the air and went into another stance.

"It will take more than that to break my Aura," she said. Grullo could just stare openmouthed at her new weapon.

"That's not right…" he muttered, shaking his head. The girl smirked. Without another word, she lunged.

Grullo's defenses crumbled before her new offensive. While using her curved sword to hook onto his trident and keep it still, the girl used her new blood sword to attack Grullo with impunity. His Aura flashed as it tried to defend him from the damage, but he was visibly tiring.

With a strong slash across Grullo's chest, his Aura broke. He didn't even have a chance to move before the girl spun the blood sword in her hand to a reverse grip and attacked, stabbing the point of the blade into his thigh before quickly withdrawing it. Grullo screamed in pain as he stumbled back, leaning heavily on his trident to keep his balance. He fell against the railing of the boat and pointed his trident at the girl. Like before, the head of the weapon shot out at his opponent. The girl sidestepped, allowing the blades to pass harmlessly by her and stab themselves into the wall of the ship. Before Grullo could pull the weapon back she severed the cable using an overhead strike with both blades. Grullo was left holding only a staff and a small length of cable. She advanced on him slowly, flicking her weapons out to the side, and he tried to hobble away from her.

"Wait!" he cried. "Wait a second! We could make a deal. I'll give you-"

Persimmon suddenly punched Grullo right in the face. The man dropped to the deck without another sound.

"Nobody tries to take my ship," he spat before giving Grullo a kick in the ribs just to make sure. He sighed and turned to look at his frightened passengers. "We're good," he said. Turning around, he looked at the young woman who had saved him as she sheathed her shotgun-sword across her back and tossed the blood sword overboard. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine, she said dismissively. You should worry more about the pirates." Persimmon sighed and nodded.

"We've got an empty store room in the cargo hold this trip," he said. "We'll tie them up and keep them there till we hit port. Could you give us some help with that."

"Sure," she said with a shrug. She took a metal canteen off of her belt and unscrewed the cap before taking a large gulp. Based on the expression of distaste she made as she was doing it, Persimmon guessed she wasn't drinking water. "I'm just gonna find a drink somewhere before we start hauling them below deck." She turned on her heel and walked away.

"Wait," Persimmon said. She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. "What's your name, miss?" She blinked at him for an instant, as if she was surprised to hear that question. She turned away and started walking again.

"My name is Sanguine," he heard her say.


	2. Welcome to Beacon

**Chapter 1 - Welcome to Beacon**

Glynda Goodwitch, the Deputy Headmistress of Beacon Academy, could feel a migraine building up behind her eyes as the red-hooded girl she had recently gotten acquainted with practically flew from the interrogation room with a blinding smile on her face. The girl was out the door in a second, and probably out of the police station in two.

When they were alone she faced Professor Ozpin, who merely smiled and slurped from his ever-present coffee mug. There were a few moments of silence before the grey-haired man sighed and met her eyes.

"Alright, Glynda, go ahead and say it."

"You've gone insane, Ozpin. It finally happened," she said tersely. "That girl doesn't graduate Signal for another two years, and you are ready to throw her into the fire at the drop of hat? Have you lost your senses completely?"

The man smiled slightly.

"My senses were fully intact, last I checked. Thank you for showing concern." Glynda continued to glare at him. He sighed again. "I think Miss Rose can handle herself perfectly well, Glynda. She has personal training from Qrow and she has the heart of a true huntress. I doubt she will be anything but marvelous at Beacon." His face fell slightly as he looked down at the table. "Besides, I owe it to Summer."

Glynda lowered her eyes as well, saddened by the memory of her departed friend. Summer Rose had been a great friend to her when they went to school together. After a moment of grief, her eyes rose again to lock onto Ozpin.

"And I'm sure she would appreciate it, Ozpin, but _not_ when her daughter might be put into unnecessary danger. She's not ready yet. She will be someday, but not now."

"I fear we may not have time to wait for that day," Ozpin said quietly before slurping his coffee again. "Besides, Miss Rose is not the strangest attendee we will have this year." Ozpin now had Glynda's undivided attention.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

Instead of immediately answering, Ozpin only took another sip of his coffee. Glynda's eye began twitching as she tried to keep her temper under control.

"Qrow managed to track down his secondary target," Ozpin finally said.

Glynda stared at the Beacon Headmaster in disbelief, her eyes widening. Her riding crop slipped between her suddenly numb fingers and clattered against the floor.

"You… you're saying that Qrow actually found him?"

"No, no. Of course not," Ozpin said as he tapped a few buttons on his scroll. The commands were answered by the beep of a received message on her own scroll. "I'm saying that Qrow found _her_."

 _What?_

Feeling suddenly frantic, Glynda opened her scroll and selected the report Ozpin had sent her. Her face turned a shade paler as she took her first look.

"Are you certain she's the one?" she asked after a moment of stunned silence.

"I am," Ozpin said with a nod of his head. "I spoke to her yesterday, and I feel she is trustworthy. Her story checks out and she was able to prove her involvement with the recorded… _incidents_. Additionally, Qrow vouched for her."

"She's only a child…" she said softly, staring at the picture with the file. Part of Glynda wanted to cry, seeing a face like that connected to such a history.

Glynda spent a few moments reading the provided information before looking at Ozpin out of the corner of her eye. He met her gaze and sighed.

"You do not agree," Ozpin said. It wasn't a question.

"Of course not," Glynda answered. "If even half of the stories about her are true, then she is incredibly dangerous. I'm not sure Beacon could handle her."

"All of Beacon's students are incredibly dangerous, Glynda," Ozpin said, "but I understand your concerns. However, I think Beacon could be a good environment for her."

Glynda's migraine had suddenly grown fangs and begun ripping into her brain with a new enthusiasm. The Huntress took a moment to center herself before continuing in a tone of voice that desperately wanted to be calm.

"You are asking me to accept that, not only have you reached out to a young woman who is quite possibly one of the most dangerous individuals in Remnant, but you are now giving her formal training. Do you actually believe that-"

"I believe," Ozpin interrupted, his voice firm, "that she should be given the chance to atone. To better herself. Qrow and I have both spoken to her, and we have concluded that she would pose no threat to our students." The man looked at her imploringly. "Don't you think she deserves that chance? The chance at a better life?" There was a long silence before Glynda's seemed to sigh in defeat using her entire body.

"Damn it all, Ozpin," she groaned. "I have a lot of work to do this weekend, and this headache is certainly not going to help matters. I hope you're happy." The Headmaster just smiled and took another sip from his coffee. Glynda looked at her scroll again, staring at the girl's face. "Welcome to Beacon Academy, Miss Sanguine," she said in surrender.

* * *

Sanguine sighed in relief when the airship finally landed at the dock of Beacon Academy. She didn't have a problem with flying, but she had always felt much more comfortable when her feet were on something solid and unmoving. The airship she disembarked from was neither of those things.

She walked down the gangplank, ignoring some poor fool who was currently retching his lunch into a trash can. Instead, she focused her eyes on the towering castle that lay before her.

"Welcome to Beacon, Sanguine," she said to herself, as if trying to convince her mind that this was actually happening. Adjusting the bag hanging from her shoulder, she took a few steps down the center path, following the mob of students before she suddenly stopped.

There was a feeling in the back of Sanguine's mind, one she had spent a great deal of time honing for her own use. That feeling of being watched had saved her life dozens, if not hundreds, of times in the past.

Breaking away from the flood of students walking toward the main hall, she jogged to the side and ducked behind a tree. After a moment, she peeked around the side, her narrowed eyes sweeping the young faces for any sign of interest in her. No one was even looking in her direction. What was it that had set off her warning? She made the realization a moment later.

It was the crowd. She hadn't been part of a crowd in years. She had _used_ crowds in the past, but she had always been the one following someone else. Walking _with_ a group of people, however, felt… strange.

She closed her eyes and let out a long breath.

 _Get it together, Sanguine. Remember what Mr. Qrow said. This is home now._

The courtyard of the academy was much emptier now, as most of the students had moved on to the main hall. Letting out a sigh, Sanguine straightened up, adjusting the bandolier across her chest and feeling the weight of her sword Obsidian shift against her shoulder blades.

Before she could move on, however, raised voices drew her attention. A pale skinned girl with a white outfit and even whiter hair was standing over the collapsed form of another girl, who wore a black and red dress and a bright red hood and cape. From what she could hear, it sounded like the girl in white was belittling the other girl.

Sanguine didn't like bullies.

Narrowing her eyes into a glare, she stalked forward.

* * *

Ruby had thought that her first day at Beacon would be enjoyable. She was fulfilling her life-long dream, she was going to learn how to do her favorite thing in the world, and she was here with her favorite-slash-only sister.

As soon as she had stepped off the airship, however, things had gone downhill. She had no idea where she was going and Yang had suddenly ditched her. As if that wasn't enough, she was face to face with… _this_.

"What are you, brain-dead?!" the older girl demanded as she loomed over Ruby. The girl was dressed entirely in white, and her icy blue eyes were alight with fury. Her white hair was pulled into a strange off-center ponytail. She snapped closed the metal case she was holding before angrily gesturing at her with a vial of red powder. Several other matching cases were scattered across the ground from when Ruby had accidently knocked them over. "This is _Dust_ , you fool! Fire, water, lightening, energy!"

"I…I know…" Ruby tried to say before she started coughing. The older girl's vigorous movements were expelling clouds of the fine red powder that was Burn Dust. Those clouds were irritating her throat and tickling her nose.

"Are you even listening to me?" the other girl demanded, paying no heed to Ruby's attempts to answer. "If you even walk out your front door, you should know how important Dust is!"

Suddenly, a hand smacked down on the vial of dust, stopping the other girl's motions and words at the same time.

"And _you_ should know better than to go around shaking Dust into other people's faces," a new voice said.

Ruby coughed and waved her hand in front of her face to clear the air before she looked up at the newcomer.

She was about Yang's height, if taller by an inch or so. She had mocha colored skin and shining red eyes, offset by a scar on her right cheek that extended from below her eye to swoop over her cheekbone to her ear. She had a long sleeved black undershirt and a maroon sweatshirt with the sleeves torn off. The hood she had pulled up over her black hair, a fact that instantly put her in Ruby's 'Awesome' category. Between the torn sleeves on the hoodie, ripped jeans and dark utility boots she looked like she'd done a lot of travel. The girl carried a knapsack over her shoulder and had what looked like a strange shotgun slung across her back, not to mention the bandolier of shotgun shells slung across her chest. Ruby saw that the new girl was also armed with a large pistol, which was holstered across the back of hips.

 _This girl looks tough. And SO cool!_

"Excuse me!" the girl in white almost shrieked. "Do you have any idea who I am?!"

"Honestly Princess," the other girl said, "I couldn't give a fuck if I tried." The girl in white released a sound somewhere between a shriek and a squawk.

"It's heiress, actually," said yet another new voice.

The three of them turned to see a girl with a black and white ensemble holding a fallen tube of Dust. She had pale skin, though not quite as pale as Ruby's tormentor, as well as long black hair complete with an equally black bow.

"Pardon?" said the hooded girl.

"Weiss Schnee," the girl in black said. "Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

"Finally! Some recognition." The now-named Weiss gave the hooded girl a look of superiority. She just rolled her eyes and shoved Weiss away, ignoring another shriek of protest.

"That makes way too much sense…" the girl muttered. "Figures you'd be a Schnee." She shoved her hands in her pockets and smirked. "Guess that explains the dozen suitcases. Probably aren't used to going anywhere without a bunch of slaves at your beck and call."

"How dare you!" Weiss snapped. "You can't talk to me that way!"

"I'll talk to you any way I damn well please," the girl said, glaring down at Weiss.

"I don't have to take this," Weiss said. She turned her nose up, spun on her heel, and stomped off.

"Lovely talking to you!" the hooded girl said after her. Weiss only stiffened her shoulders and kept going. "Hn," she said, shifting her weight from foot to foot. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby saw that girl with the bow disappear in another direction. It looked like she and the hooded girl where the only ones here.

"Hey. I'm Jaune."

Okay, maybe they weren't the only ones.

Ruby looked up and saw a blonde boy in a hoodie and plate armor reaching down to help her up. She smiled.

"Ruby," she said, taking his hand. He pulled her up as the other girl turned around.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Super, really," Ruby said, rubbing the back of her head. "Just… not how I would have liked to arrive at Beacon. She was a meanie."

"I know her type," the girl said. A silence stretched between the three of them.

"Anyway," the blond boy said, extending his hand toward the girl, "I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue. Ladies love it."

The girl stared at the hand for a long moment as if she wasn't sure what it was. Just when Jaune was starting to look uncomfortable, the girl took his hand.

"Sanguine," she said. "Just Sanguine."

"I'm Ruby," Ruby said, extending her hand as well. The now-named Sanguine shook with her.

"It's… um, it's nice to meet you," she said, sounding almost like she was reading off of cards. There was a moment of silence again before Sanguine shot Jaune a look of confusion. "Aren't you that guy that threw up on the airship?"

* * *

Sanguine probably should have kept her mouth shut. She and Ruby had just been treated to a five-minute-long explanation on how motion sickness was the great underappreciated threat to all mankind or some such bullshit. She gave a sigh of relief as it _finally_ sounded like he was finishing up his rant.

"Well, my mom always said… um never mind," Jaune said.

For a few moments, there was blessed silence.

"So…" Ruby said slowly, "I've got this thing." With a loud whirring sound and a sharp clang, the small girl in the red hood was now holding a red and black sniper-scythe that easily dwarfed her in size. Sanguine whistled in appreciation while Jaune recoiled in fear.

"Woah!" he yelped. "Is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle," Ruby said proudly, hefting her weapon into both hands.

"Nice," Sanguine said, bending forward to get a closer look. "What caliber?"

"Fifty," Ruby chirped. "At least, for now. I'm hoping to upgrade her later to take on bigger rounds. I started with trying to chamber her for ninety-five caliber bullets, but those are impossible to use without a muzzle break and a _whole_ lot of stabilizing. I can't use them on the go and the recoil would just send me flying. Plus…" she trailed off, looking a little embarrassed, "my allowance isn't big enough for rounds that expensive." Her eyes snapped back to Sanguine. "Can I see yours?"

Sanguine nodded and reached for the shotgun on her back. Ruby almost had sparkles in her eyes as she looked at the other girl's weapon.

"Obsidian is a lever-action shotgun," Sanguine explained, swinging out the cutlass guard and ejecting one of the shells before she snatched it out of the air. "Magnum twelve-gauge buckshot shells with a very thin coating of Burn Dust over the balls. Perforates and roasts any Grimm it's pointing at." After reloading the shell, she flicked the weapon to the side, causing the crescent blade to snap out into place. "Also comes with a sword. The black metal gave me the idea to call it Obsidian."

"That is so cool!" Ruby squealed. Jaune nodded in agreement as he stared at the blade. "What about that pistol you've got? Does it turn into a knife? Do the bullets explode? What does it do?"

"Oh, this?" Sanguine patted the grip of the pistol. "It's just a gun. Picked it up a while ago and thought it would be useful to have."

"Oh, I see," said Ruby, nodding. "Not a lot of people appreciate the classics these days." She suddenly rounded on Jaune. "What have you got?"

"Oh, um…" Jaune unsheathed the sword at his hip. "I've got this sword. And a shield." The scabbard attached to his arm and opened up to form a shield.

"Ohhh," said Ruby. Sanguine just arched an eyebrow.

"Anything else?" she asked.

"Well… the shield becomes smaller so it's easier to carry." Jaune tried to demonstrate but the shield unsnapped again and jumped off of his arm. Jaune flailed around trying to catch it before falling over. He looked up and gave the two girls a nervous chuckle.

"Oh," said Ruby. "Well… that's…"

"Disappointing," said Sanguine. The other two looked at her in surprise.

"What?" Jaune said, looking offended.

"Not necessarily," Ruby said. "Just because it doesn't have an awesome gun doesn't mean it can't be effective against Grimm. Right?"

What threatened to become another awkward silence was broken by five chimes from the clock tower booming across campus. All three students looked over at the clock face on one of the towers above them.

"Wasn't orientation supposed to start at five?" Sanguine asked.

Within moments, the three students were rushing across the courtyard, with Jaune and Ruby frantically using their Scrolls to find a map of the campus and Sanguine trailing behind them. She rolled her eyes to the sky.

 _This bodes well_ , she thought to herself.


	3. How To Make Friends and Irritate People

**AN: Hello beautiful people. Sorry for the long wait. Summer classes are the worst. Thankfully, I got a new chapter for you guys and hopefully a more regular update schedule.  
Let me know what you guys think. I need reviews to live!**

 **Warning - there is a scene near the end that might be a little scary. Reader discretion is advised**

 **Chapter 2 – How to Make Friends and Irritate People**

The auditorium of Beacon Academy was exactly as Sanguine had expected. It was concentrated around a raised stage inhabited only by a microphone stand and a spotlight, had a high arching ceiling, and was filled with teenagers dressed in odd clothes and carrying complicated weaponry. They were all milling around in bands or by themselves, clustered around the stage.

Before she could go off on her own as she intended, Sanguine suddenly found Ruby taking her hand and dragging her to the center of the room. It wasn't until a few seconds later that Sanguine saw Ruby's goal.

It was a young woman that seemed a little older than Ruby. She was dressed in an outfit that bared her midriff and seemed designed from the ground up to show off all of her curves. She had a bedraggled mane of blond hair that reached down to her waist. She had soft lavender eyes and a wide smile on her face as she waved at Ruby.

"Hey sis!" she said, leaving Sanguine confused. These two girls did not look alike at all. "Who's your friend?" The other girl gave Sanguine a wide smile.

"Yang, this is Sanguine. Sanguine, this is my big sister Yang."

"Nice to meet you, San," Yang said, extending a hand which Sanguine shook.

"Sanguine," she corrected. Yang shrugged before turning back to Ruby

"So," Yang said, "how did you end up making a friend on the first day?"

"I'm not sure-" Sanguine started to say.

"She totaled saved me from this crabby girl!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Are you serious?" said Yang.

"Totally," said Ruby. "I tripped over this rich girl's luggage, and then she started yelling at me, and then she was shaking dust around while she yelled, and then Sanguine showed up, and then the girl kept on yelling and I just wanted her to stop and-"

"YOU!"

Sanguine jolted toward the sudden exclamation, her hand unconsciously curling around the grip of her pistol. Ruby, taking a more obvious course, leapt about three feet into the air and landed in Yang's arms.

The Weiss girl was standing right behind them, and was looking very unhappy.

"Ohnoit'shappeningagain!" Ruby cried, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Why are you bothering my sister?" Yang demanded. She gave Weiss a very decent glare, but it was lessened by the fact that Ruby was clinging to her like a limpet.

"That sister of yours could have blown us sky high!" Weiss snapped. "She could have detonated my entire case of dust."

"If your suitcase could be detonated by someone tripping over it," Sanguine said, crossing her arms and putting her weight on her back foot, "then maybe you need a better suitcase, Schnee."

"I don't need any words from _you_ either! You are the single most unpleasant person I've ever met in my life."

Sanguine just narrowed her eyes.

"It was an accident, I swear," said Ruby, climbing down from Yang's arms. She was about to open her mouth again before Weiss suddenly shoved a pamphlet into Ruby's face.

"If you want to make this up to me, read this Dust Safety Pamphlet and don't ever speak to me again." She dropped the pamphlet into Ruby's hands before throwing a second one at Sanguine, which she snatched out of the air. "And one for you too!"

Sanguine stared at the pamphlet in her hand before locking her burning eyes on Weiss.

"Look…" said Yang, interrupting Sanguine before she could go any further, "I think the three of you just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you give it another try? Sanguine?"

"No," she snapped. The others blinked.

"Um… Ruby?" Yang said, trying to recover.

"Sure," Ruby chirped, holding her hand out to Weiss. "Hello there, Weiss. I'm Ruby." Weiss just continued to scowl. Ruby looked like she was losing her confidence. "Wanna, y'know, hang out or something? We could, I don't know, get school supplies or… stuff."

"Yeah," Weiss drawled, sarcasm almost dripping from her words. "We can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about boys like Tall Blond and Scraggily over there."

At this, Sanguine saw Jaune Arc look over in their direction with an interested look on his face.

 _If this does not end right fucking now,_ she thought to herself, _I will not be held responsible for my actions._

For once, the universe took pity on her.

Just as Weiss was giving a final, definite rejection to Ruby's offer of friendship, the speakers rang from feedback and projected the sound of a clearing throat around the entire room. Every person in the room spun in surprise. Apparently Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch had taken the stage without anyone noticing them.

"I'll… keep this brief _,"_ Ozpin said as he adjusted his glasses.

Sanguine and the others listened to his surprisingly disheartening introduction, with Sanguine almost scratching her head in confusion. This sounded very little like the Professor she had met with a week ago. He had been calm, understanding, and optimistic, even in the face of her story. Now, he just sounded so… defeated. When he concluded his statements, Professor Ozpin walked off the stage and allowed Professor Goodwitch to take his place.

"After you store your weapons in the locker room, you will gather in the ballroom tonight," she told the assembled students. "Tomorrow, you will go through your initiation test. Sleep well." She too left the stage, and the various students began migrating toward the doors at the side of the auditorium.

"He seemed kind of… off," said Yang.

"Yeah," agreed Ruby. "Like he wasn't even there."

"I'm a natural blond, you know."

The four of them turned to see a very earnest looking Jaune smiling at them, or more specifically at Weiss. The heiress rubbed the bridge of her nose before turning away.

"I have to go… not talk to any of you." With that, she stalked off. There were a few beats of silence before Yang followed after.

"Well, might as well get our lockers," she said.

Ruby followed her sister while Jaune left in dejected silence. Sanguine trailed after for a few moments before she came to a stop. She stared down at the pamphlet she still clutched in her hand.

She closed her eyes and struggled to control her breathing as she crushed the pamphlet in her fist.

"Stay calm," she muttered to herself. "Stay. Calm." She let out a long sigh before following the herd of students, tossing the pamphlet off to the side as she did.

* * *

Sanguine was laying back on her sleeping bag when someone tried to get her attention.

"Mind if I put this down here, San?"

Sanguine glanced up at Yang to see the blonde woman carrying a sleeping bag folded over her arm. She'd changed into a tank top and short shorts, but still had that blinding smile on her face. Ruby stood behind her, also carrying a sleeping bag.

Sanguine thought for a second before turning to face away from the two girls.

"Go ahead, I guess," she murmured. Yang flung her sleeping bag down with a loud _flomph_ while Ruby rolled hers out with a little more care.

"So," said Yang, sounding way more chipper than Sanguine was used to, "what do you think initiation is going to be like?"

"Probably gonna be fighting a huge monster," Ruby said brightly. "Can't wait to slice and dice!"

"You know it, sis. What do you think, Sanguine?"

"I think," she drawled, "that we should get some rest, or whatever we face tomorrow will just turn us into toothpicks. Now go to sleep."

"Sleep?" said Yang. "But aren't you going to change into some pajamas?"

Sanguine ducked her head down, as if she were trying to disappear into her own shoulders. The only things she had done to get ready for bed were remove her bandoleer and sweater, untie her ponytail, and take off her boots.

"I… don't have any," she finally answered. "I don't have many things."

"Oh," Yang said. There were a few long moments of drawn out silence. "Wanna borrow a set of mine?"

Sanguine looked over her shoulder at Yang, giving her wardrobe a second glance over.

"No," she said before turning back to where she was.

"Wanna borrow some of-" said Ruby.

"No!" Sanguine snapped, cutting her off midsentence. Glancing over her shoulder again, she saw the look of hurt on the younger girl's face. With a sigh, she rolled over to face them. "Ruby, Yang, I know you're just trying to help, but trust me when I say I don't need them. Also…" She hesitated for a moment. "I'm not good with people, so I'm sorry if I come off as a little snappy. I just really need to get some sleep. It's gonna be a tough day tomorrow and I need to do well." She turned back away and lay her head down on the pillow. "This is my only chance."

"Only chance for what?" asked Yang. Sanguine gave her a look, but didn't answer.

There was silence in their little area before Yang and Ruby started getting ready for bed and carrying out their whispered conversation. Sanguine listened to their talking for a little bit before letting herself fall to sleep.

 _Sorry Mr. Qrow. I'm not good at this. I'll try a little harder… tomorrow._

Soon, she was asleep.

She was in That Room again. Rust and other unknown materials were crawling up the walls. Faulty neon lights buzzed overhead. The table she lay on was icy cold against her bare skin. She tried to push herself off, but the leather cuffs kept her in place. On the walls all around her were racks of tools and sharp instruments. Her eyes darted around in a blind panic. She needed to get out.

"No," she gasped. "Not again. Not again!"

There was the bang of an opening door. She turned her head toward the hallway leading into the room. The hallway was dark, but she could hear the loud, heavy footsteps.

"This isn't real," she whispered to herself. "This isn't real."

" _Oh, it's real sweetheart_ ," the cruel voice drawled. _"It took a lot of work to get you here, so my boys and I are going to have all the fun we can._ "

The man finally stepped into the room, cruelty etched all over his face. He pulled a wicked knife from his belt and came closer, his yellow and cracked teeth locked in a grotesque grin. He slowly lowered the knife toward her collarbone until the blade met her skin.

 _"Scream for me, you little rat!"_ he shouted as he ripped the knife across her skin.

 _"AHHHHHHHHHH!"_

"AHH!" shouted Sanguine as she jolted upright, her skin clammy with sweat. She let out some panting breaths and looked around, trying to remind herself that she wasn't in That Room anymore.

She was laying on a sleeping bag, not a cold steel table. She was surrounded by sleeping teenagers, not metal instruments and filth. She was in a ballroom at Beacon Academy, not the basement of a dilapidated factory. The lingering feelings of pain were only phantoms, not the bleeding injuries they had previously been.

Her awakening caused some of the students around her to stir. A few shifted in their sleep while others continued their blissful slumber. She heard a yawn from right next to her and turned to see Yang pushing herself up to try and focus on her with half-lidded eyes.

"Wah's gon on, San?" she asked with another yawn.

"Nothing, Yang," Sanguine said, reaching into her knapsack and digging through one of the compartments. It took a lot of effort for her to keep her voice level. "Just a dream. I'll be back soon."

She left in a hurry, skillfully stepping over other sleeping students until she made it outside into the cool night air. Once she was out, she leaned against a wall and slid to the ground before looking down at the two objects she had taken from her bag. The first was a paper box, which she opened to reveal a collection of dark brown cigars as wide as her pinkie finger. The second was a silver lighter. Tapping one of the cigars out, she placed it in her mouth and opened the cap of the lighter. With a flick of a switch, a tongue of flame like a blowtorch sprang into life. She lit the cigar, being careful to evenly heat the opposite end. She took a puff, letting the smoke rest in her mouth before exhaling.

She spent an hour like that: sitting against a wall, just trying to enjoy the crisp breeze and the salty taste of smoke. She immersed herself in it, letting the sensations carry her away. Away from the pain.

Away from her past.


	4. Calm Before The Storm

**AN: Hello all. back for another chapter of RWBYS - Blood Is Thicker. I had a lot of fun making this one and I hope you guys enjoy it. Be sure to leave a review to tell me how I'm doing.**

 **Chapter 3 – Calm Before The Storm**

Morning came far too quickly for all of the prospective Beacon students. Sanguine in particular. It didn't help that she had been rudely awoken by the ecstatic shouts of some orange haired girl from a few rows over. She used the nearby locker rooms for a quick shower, dressed herself and tied her ponytail and then, lacking any other idea what to do, tagged along with Ruby and Yang to go to breakfast.

Sanguine knew that students ate three meals a day. She knew that the Beacon cafeteria was always filled with good food. She knew that nothing available would be off limits to her.

That still didn't prepare her for being a part of the breakfast line.

The sheer mixture of aromas wafting from the trays almost made her want to cry. Sizzling bacon. Freshly made pancakes. Perfectly seasoned hash browns. Not to mention dozens of other dishes and pastries that Sanguine didn't have names for. She was in heaven.

While Yang got herself a plate of pancakes and bacon and Ruby seemed determined to make a breakfast out of a platter of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk, Sanguine was loading up her plate with absolutely everything. Waffles, pancakes, bacon, sausage, and more joined together into a small mountain on her platter. She almost ran to an empty table and was in the middle of drowning her bacon in a savory cream sauce by the time Ruby and Yang sat down across from her, both looking highly amused. Sanguine just ignored them as she slapped the bacon between two slices of toast and took a huge bite.

She felt like she would pass out right then and there. The bacon, sauce, and toast combined together to form an incredible taste she couldn't have thought of in her wildest dreams. The moan of appreciation she let out was almost filthy, but she didn't care. She tore into her sandwich again and within moments she was licking her fingers for any last hint of the sauce. Only then did she bother to look up at the two women she was sitting with.

Ruby had a stunned expression as her face began turning just as red as her hood. She quickly excused herself from the table while mumbling something about coffee. Meanwhile, Yang was staring at her with her chin propped up on her hands and giving her a lurid grin with half-closed eyes.

"I kind of feel like I need a cigarette after seeing you eat that," she said playfully. The two girls stared at each other for a few long seconds before Sanguine shrugged, reached into her pocket and pulled out the battered paper box. She opened it, removed a cigar, and offered it to Yang.

"Here," she said.

"Damn," Yang said, taking the cigar and rolling it around in her fingers. "You've got the good stuff." After a sniff and a second of contemplation, Yang slipped the cigar into the pocket of her jacket. "I'll save it for later," she said with a wink. "We can celebrate after we nail the initiation test."

"Alright," Sanguine said before turning back to trying to cram as much food as possible into her mouth without choking. Yang started laughing.

"You eat like my sister," she said. "She can devour an entire tray of cookies in seconds if you give her the chance."

"You got that right," said Ruby as she sat back down at their table, carrying three mugs of coffee in her hands.

"Thanks, sis," Yang said as she took the offered cup, immediately taking a long sip from the steaming drink.

"Here Sanguine," said Ruby, offering her the third mug. "I didn't know how you took your coffee, so I just gave you a cream. You don't mind, right?"

Sanguine swallowed her mouthful and just sat there in stunned silence, blinking over and over as she stared at the offered mug. The silence went on for so long that Ruby started looking nervous.

"Um, I mean… if you don't like it, I'll just-"

"No," Sanguine said, taking the mug from her. "Sorry about that. It's just…" she trailed off before taking a deep breath. "Thank you, Ruby. It's just… no one has done something like this for me in years. It caught me off guard." She took a sip of her coffee and let out a contented sigh. "It's good. Thank you."

Ruby beamed in pride before she set upon her plate of cookies, seeming to shovel them in up to three at a time without needing to come up for air. Yang just smiled at her sister before going back to her own meal.

The three of them ate in silence for the next few minutes, mentally preparing for the test ahead of them. After her feeding frenzy at the beginning of her meal, Sanguine ate at a much slower pace and started grabbing some of the pastries from her plate before stuffing them into her pockets.

She had a feeling that this was going to be a very long day.

* * *

After their meal, the three moved to the locker room to collect their weapons from their temporary storage. Sanguine was loading shells into her shotgun while Ruby was busy cuddling her sniper scythe.

"Today, I get to let my sweetheart to the talking," she said, rubbing her cheek against red metal frame. Sanguine glanced at Yang out of the corner of her eye.

"Does she always act like this?"

"You have no idea," Yang said with a smile. "Sometimes I swear she talks to Crescent Rose more than she does to me."

"That's not true!" Ruby protested. Yang just fixed her with a look that said otherwise. "I'm just better with weapons than with people."

"Ruby," Yang said, ruffling her sister's hair, "if you want to grow up, you have to actually _let_ yourself grow. You've gotta meet new people and learn to work with others. Look at Sanguine. You're already making friends."

 _Not sure if I'd go_ that _far yet,_ Sanguine thought, checking the hinges on Obsidian's lever.

"Urgh," grumbled Ruby as she batted Yang's hand away. "You sound like Dad." She slammed her locker shut and fixed the collapsed weapon to the back of her belt. "First off – What does meeting new people have to do with fighting monsters? And secondly – I'm growing up just fine, thank you very much! I drink _milk_!"

"But we'll be put into teams today," Yang said as Sanguine flicked out the blade of Obsidian to inspect the sharpness. She had spent hours sharpening it a few days ago, but she just wanted to make sure it was in the best possible condition. "Wouldn't it be best to get to know some of the people you'll be fighting alongside?" Yang asked.

"Well, um," said Ruby, "I guess I'll just be on a team with you guys."

Sanguine shrugged before turning back to inspecting Obsidian.

"We'll see what happens," she said.

"Actually," said Yang, who had begun stroking her hair nervously, "I was thinking maybe it would be good if you tried being on someone else's team or something."

Ruby immediately spun toward her, silver eyes narrowed.

"My dearest sister Yang," she said dangerously, "are you implying that you do not wish to be on a team with me?"

"What? No! Of course I do," Yang said, looking scared. "I just… y'know, thought it would give you the chance to break out of your shell or something."

"I don't need to break out of my shell!" Ruby protested. "That's ridiculous! I'm perfectly fine!"

"Ruby," said Yang, "at your first school dance, you spent the entire time sitting at a table drawing gun designs on a napkin. The counselor needed to have a talk with you and Dad afterwards."

"That was one time," Ruby said, crossing her arms defensively.

" _Five_ times, actually," Yang pressed on.

Sanguine rolled her eyes as she checked over her pistol. She slid the magazine in and out before pulling back on the slide, satisfied that it was just as smooth as she had left it.

"I don't see what the problem with those designs was," Ruby protested. "They were mechanical plans. That's it."

"Girls your age draw heart pictures or random doodles," Yang said. "You, however, draw the demonic lovechild of a minigun and a chainsaw. It was bound to get _someone's_ attention." Ruby fumed for a few more moments before she deflated, her torso flopping down to hang over the floor.

"I just like weapons…" she murmured. Yang rolled her eyes and gave Ruby a hug.

"I know that, sis, but you can't just live your life surrounded by weapons."

 _Shing!_

The sudden sound made Ruby and Yang turn to face Sanguine. She looked up at them before going back to observing the edge of a large switchblade. The double edged blade was almost four inches long, but there was also a smaller two-inch blade protruding from the opposite end of the handle.

"What?" she asked, testing the tip of the knife with her finger.

"How many weapons do you _have_?" Yang said in exasperation while Ruby just looked smug.

"Enough," Sanguine said before pressing a button on the handle. The two blades snapped back inside and she pulled up her pant leg to reveal a holster inside her boot. An instant later, Sanguine remembered she wasn't alone and hurriedly pulled down her pant leg just enough to only reveal the holster.

"Do your gun and knife have names?" Ruby asked. "I know that your shotsword is called Obsidian, but what about the others?"

"The pistol doesn't have a name," Sanguine answered. "The knife…" For a long moment, she just stared at the weapon before sliding it into the holster. "The knife is Backstabber."

"Heh," Yang laughed a little nervously. "That's a bit of a creepy name, San."

"It earned its name," Sanguine said before standing up and walking out of the locker room, leaving Ruby and Yang to follow after her.

* * *

Within the hour, Sanguine, Ruby, Yang, and all of the other prospective students were standing at very edge of the school grounds, on the precipice of a sheer cliff and a long fall down into the Emerald Forest below. Sanguine narrowed her eyes as she looked over the vast expanse of greenery. She wasn't fooled by its beauty. She knew what was in there.

 _Grimm. Lots of Grimm_

Sanguine closed her eyes and took a breath, tasting the damp air still clinging to the cold of winter. The Grimm were not a concern at the present moment.

For a reason that escaped her, she and the rest of the wannabe students were arranged on a long row of metal tiles emblazoned with the Beacon coat of arms. Yang and Ruby were standing next to each other but Jaune was next to Ruby, so Sanguine had taken a place on the very last tile in the row. Sanguine was anxiously shifting her weight from foot to foot, ready to do this initiation.

 _Slurp._

The sound drew her attention. Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch had taken positions on the edge of the cliff and were looking over the students

"For years, you have all trained to become warriors," said Ozpin, sounding like he had said this exact speech many times before, "but today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest below us." He took a sip of coffee as Glynda continued.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about team assignments, and allow us to enlighten you. You will all receive your team assignments _today_."

"These teammates," continued Ozpin, "will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well and get along with." He slurped from his coffee. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

 _That… sounds like the exact opposite of what you just said,_ thought Sanguine.

"Whaaaat?!" said Ruby, apparently in total agreement. Ozpin ignored her and continued.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you _will_ die."

 _Sounds familiar_ , Sanguine thought with a mental shrug.

"You will be monitored and graded throughout the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. This is a school for warriors and you should be more than capable of getting yourself out of any mess you find yourself in. In the depths of the forest, you will find an abandoned temple containing several artifacts. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?

Jaune stuck his hand up.

"Yeah, um, sir?"

"Good," said Ozpin. "Now, take your positions."

The students took ready positions. For a few seconds, there was only silence.

 _SPRONG!_

The student standing at the very end of the line found himself being catapulted by his tile. He let out a scream as he cartwheeled through the air over the forest. Seconds later, the girl next to him was also sent flying. One after another, the young warriors were flung into the forest. The ones closer to her side of the row shifted their stances, now more prepared for their inevitable take off.

 _SPRONG!_

 _1, 2, 3, 4, 5…_

 _SPRONG!_

"Um, Professor?" Jaune asked, raising his hand. "I had a question."

 _He cannot be serious_ , Sanguine thought to herself.

"Are you gonna, like, drop us off in the forest?"

"No, you will be falling," Ozpin answered flatly.

 _SPRONG!_

"Oh, uh, I see… So, like, did you hand out parachutes or something?

"No," Ozpin said a shake of his head. "You will be using your own landing strategy."

 _SPRONG!_

 _SPRONG!_

Sanguine looked past Jaune to see Yang and Ruby get launched into the air one after another. It was almost her time.

"So, what exactly is a landing strateg _YYYYYY!_ "

The launch pad had activated in midword.

Sanguine did not have time to be thankful for Jaune's sudden departure. It was her turn next. She tensed her legs and prepared herself.

 _1, 2, 3, 4, 5!_

…Nothing happened.

Sanguine looked down at her tile and stomped on it a few times. Again, nothing happened.

"Um, Professor, I think something's wrong with mine," she said.

"That is deliberate," Ozpin said before slurping from his coffee. Sanguine looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"You, Miss Sanguine, are the odd person out this year." Sanguine could swear she felt her stomach drop at those words. It must have shown on her face because Ozpin smiled. "Don't worry, it's not a bad thing. We just have an odd number of students this year, so I have some special instructions for you." He leaned closer. "When you land in the forest, you are going to form a team of three. Either find two people you can work with or join up with an already established pair. Understood?"

"Uh… yeah," she said with a nod.

"Fantastic," he said, raising his mug in salute. "Good luck"

The tile activated before Sanguine could say another word and she suddenly found herself soaring through the air.


	5. Into the Woods

**AN: Hey guys! Got another chapter here for you. I also want to let you guys know that I'm going to be a lot slower with the updates because I've started my Master's classes. I do promise, however, that I'm not abandoning the stories. Chapters will still come, but they just won't be as frequent. With that said, hope you enjoy the next part of the story.**

 **Chapter 4 – Into The Woods**

A scream tried to crawl its way up Sanguine's throat but she clamped her mouth shut and focused on her current situation. She was hurtling through the air at high speed with no parachute or other means of slowing her fall, not to mention the large forest beneath her likely infested with Grimm. Her equipment consisted of Obsidian, a forty-five caliber pistol, Backstabber, twenty-four buckshot shells, three filled magazines of pistol ammo, a canteen, and some assorted pastries.

All things considered, she had been far worse off in the past and survived.

As Sanguine continued her wild descent, she drew Obsidian and flicked the blade out. Gritting her teeth, she swiped the blade across the palm of her hand, just deep enough to draw blood. As the blood flowed from her wound, Sanguine focused, molding it into a dart-like shape. Thinking quickly, Sanguine focused on a tree that would be passing her on the left. When she was close enough, she hurled the blood dart at the trunk. The dart shot through the air, a thin cable of blood trailing behind it that was now wrapping itself around Sanguine's hand. The dart struck home and lodge itself in the tree.

 _This is gonna hurt_ , Sanguine thought an instant before the cable snapped tight. The sudden change in direction yanked at her arm, feeling like the force was pulling her shoulder out of its socket. As she continued her spin around the tree, with each spin bringing her closer and closer to smashing into the branches, she waited until she was angled at another tree before releasing the cable and being sent flying again. This time, though, she had slowed herself down enough that she was able to grab onto one of the hanging branches and swing herself up so she landed crouched on top of the branch.

"Huh," she said to herself. "Not bad." Turning around on her perch to look out over the rest of the forest, she tried to get her bearings of where she was. "Alright," she murmured to herself, "I recognize that tree on the hill over there. It was in the same direction that Ozpin indicated the temple was in. Hill's about three miles away, I'd say. I'll hike over there and try and get my bearings." After pausing to take a long swig from her canteen, she grimaced in distaste and pushed herself off of the branch and let herself fall to the forest floor, landing in a crouch.

No sooner did she land when the birds suddenly stopped singing. Her eyes darted around her position, looking for any motion in the brush. A twig snapped off to her left, and then again off to her right. Her ears picked up the sound of snarling. The fingers of her left hand quivered slightly, anticipating the inevitable surge of adrenaline.

"Well," she said, reaching for Obsidian, "that didn't take long."

The pitch black form of a Beowolf suddenly lunged from the brush and charged toward her, sharp teeth shining like knives. Sanguine tensed, but did not move until the last possible moment. As the monster slashed at her, she leapt upward and over its brandished claws. As it over extended its attack, Obsidian's blade came slicing through the air, cleaving i's head from i's shoulders. The body of the Grimm thudded to the ground right before Sanguine landed on its back, eyes searching for the next assault. It didn't take long, since four more Beowolves stepped out of the bushes, looking at her hungrily.

"It's always something," she sighed.

Two of the creatures darted to the side before lunging at her in a pincer maneuver. She merely dashed forward toward the other two Grimm, leaving them to collide with a loud crash. One of the remaining Grimm moved forward, it's jaws open and ready to bite her, but she swung her sword into its open mouth, cutting through the jaw and removing the top of its head. The other tried to grab her, but it only had just enough time to realize it's front paws were now missing before it's head toppled to the ground and rolled away. The last two Grimm finally managed to untangle themselves from each other before they once again charged Sanguine at the same time, and Sanguine charged to meet them. She ducked the side of the first one, causing to trip and fall to the ground before swinging Obsidian into a vicious uppercut at the second, splitting it's read neatly in two. As the final Beowolf tried to regain its feet, Sanguine retracted the blade, spun around, and blasted the creature at point blank range. Its head was turned to wet black mist as the rest of the body collapsed. Sanguine stood over her kill, barely breathing hard, and listened.

No other sounds came.

Satisfied that the danger had passed for now, Sanguine spun the shotgun, working the lever in the same movement and ejecting the spent shell. She had practiced for quite some time to get the movement down. Now, she could recock her weapon in the blink of an eye. After sliding a new shell from her bandoleer into the weapon, she holstered Obsidian across her back and made her way through the forest, idly munching on some pastries she had saved from breakfast.

After walking in relative peace for almost twenty minutes, Sanguine heard the sound of figures moving around up ahead in a clearing. Ducking behind a tree and readying Obsidian, she took a breath to prepare herself, she leapt out of her hiding place and pointed her shotgun into the clearing. She was surprised by what she found.

"YAH! Shit, San, don't be jumping out like that!"

"Yang?" Sanguine said in surprise, lowering her weapon. "Wasn't expecting to run into you. I was thinking I was behind the pack." Yang was frozen halfway through bringing a pair of some king of shotgun gauntlets to bear while a girl that Sanguine vaguely recognized was lowering her hand from grasping the hilt of her sword.

"A few of the other students have probably moved ahead of us," said the black haired girl Yang had been walking with. "Our journey through the forest has not exactly been… speedy."

"Hey, I told you Blake," Yang said with a grin. "Life's about the journey." The girl with the bow just rolled her eyes in annoyance. "What about you?" Yang asked Sanguine. "Do you not have a partner yet? You can hang with us until you find one, if you want."

After a moment of thought, Sanguine decided that, all things considered, this was probably her best option.

"Actually," Sanguine said, slinging her weapon over her shoulder, "Ozpin told me I was the odd person out this semester, so I was supposed to make a team of three. Would you be okay if I joined you guys?"

"BOOYAH!" Yang cheered before apparently teleporting next to Sanguine to swing an arm across her shoulders. "With the three of us together are going to be the most awesome team in our class. Right, Blake?"

"I'm okay with that," Blake said with a neutral expression. She took a few steps forward and held her hand out to Sanguine. "My name is Blake."

"Sanguine," Sanguine said, taking Blake's hand and shaking it. "Nice to meet you." Blake nodded before turning back toward the edge of the clearing, which had a rough path she and Yang must have been following.

"We should probably get moving, though. We're still being graded."

"Alright then," Yang said enthusiastically as she pointed down the forest. "To victory we go!"

At that exact instant, a Longhorn stepped out of the brush about fifteen yards down the path. The hulking bull-like Grimm snorted at them, it's multiple bone armor plates caked with dirt and its three eyes narrowing at them. It lowered its thick horns at them and started pawing at the ground with black hooves.

"That doesn't look like victory," Blake said dryly as she drew her sword.

"No, but it's a soon-to-be victory," Yang said with a smile as she prepared her gauntlets. "Who wants to put in the first hit?"

"I'll handle this one," Sanguine said, taking a few steps forward so she stood directly in the Longhorn's path. It snorted louder as she crouched and pulled Backstabber from her boot. Clicking it open, she swiped the blade across her left palm and cupped her hand to let the blood collect. With a bellow of rage, the Longhorn charged toward them. Seemingly almost heedless of the Grimm bearing down on her, Sanguine molded the blood from her wound, turning it into a balanced knife before healing the wound in her palm. Taking the blade in hand, she spun it so she held the blade and then set her sights on the Longhorn. It kept coming, snorting angrily as its hooves pounded into the dirt. When it was within five yards of her, she flung her hand forward, releasing the blade and sending it flying. It spun through the air before slamming home right through the Longhorn's center eye. The creature immediately went limp in midstride, sending the lifeless body collapsing to the ground and skidding across the forest floor. Sanguine took a few careless steps forward before lifting her leg and planting her foot on the creature's skull just as it finally came to a halt. She looked back at the two girls – _My teammates,_ she thought to herself – and the corner of her mouth curved into a tiny, lopsided smile.

"Damn…" Yang murmured, her eyes as wide as plates. Blake, looking just as surprised, nodded.

"That was your Semblance?" Blake asked. Sanguine nodded.

"I can turn my blood into weapons. And a few other things, but mostly weapons."

"That's cool," said Yang with a smile that didn't look completely comfortable. "But creepy. But cool."

"It's certainly… unusual," said Blake. Sanguine shrugged as she placed Backstabber back in its holster and uncapped her canteen.

"Yeah, but it's useful." With that, she tipped her head back and took a swig, trying to ignore the coppery taste that washed over her tongue.

"Mind if I have a sip?" asked Yang. "I'm a little thirsty." Sanguine lowered the canteen and wiped her mouth.

"Trust me, Yang, you don't want a drink of this. You might throw up."

"Why's that?" Yang asked.

Instead of answering, Sanguine silently tipped the canteen, letting a splash of red fall to the forest floor. Yang jumped in surprise and took a half step back.

"Is… is that… _blood_?"

"New idea I had. Helps me replenish my supply," Sanguine said, capping the canteen. "If I use my Semblance too much, I'll just pass out, and getting blood weapons back into my system is pretty hard. Instead, I just drink from this and move the blood from my stomach to my veins." Sanguine clipped the canteen to her belt and stepped around the crumbling form of the Longhorn. "We should get going. The relics are waiting for us." She made it a few steps before Yang and Blake sped up to walk beside her.

"Yeah, let's try not slow her down, Blake," Yang said, smiling wide as she folded her hands behind her head. "Sanguine's in a hurry to get back to Beacon so she can have a nice warm glass of Tru Blood."

"I'm not a goddamn vampire," snarled Sanguine.

"I think she's getting mad, Blake," Yang said in a fake whisper. "It must be the sunlight getting to her."

"Goddamn it, Yang," Sanguine groaned. Blake just rolled her eyes, but there was a faint smile on her face. Sanguine kept her eyes ahead, but she couldn't help feeling a sense of… lightness in her chest.

 _Not quite sure about all of this yet,_ Sanguine thought, _but it's worth a try. For now._

* * *

On top of the cliff separating the Beacon Academy campus from the Emerald Forest, Professor Ozpin was staring at his Scroll. The screen was showing camera footage of the three girls making their way toward the temple. As Sanguine left the camera's field of view with her new teammates, he allowed a small smile to cross his features.

"Just as I'd hoped," he mused.

"I'm not so sure, Ozpin," Glynda said, looking at the same footage on her own Scroll. "The necessary factors to keep Miss Sanguine in check are a very delicate balance. Miss Xiao Long is likely to push her to take more rebellious actions and I feel Miss Belladona is not the type to engage and try to stop them. I don't see how this could work out well for anyone, Miss Sanguine included."

"You're only seeing what you want to see, Glynda," Ozpin said. "In my eyes, this could serve as a great benefit for Sanguine's development. Miss Xiao Long is filled with such exuberance and life that she will be able to show Sanguine the brighter parts of existence that she has missed out on. Miss Belladona, on the other hand, will act as a calming and levelheaded influence, turning Sanguine away from any more untoward actions. Miss Belladona will also be able to relate to Sanguine on a more emotional level, seeing as, from what I understand, they come from remarkably similar upbringings."

"There is no person in all of Remnant that could possibly possess an upbringing like Sanguine's," Glynda muttered.

"Just give it time, Glynda," Ozpin said, refocusing on this Scroll. "I have faith in her."

Glynda was about to tell Ozpin exactly what she thought about his faith in this situation before a beep came from her Scroll, prompting her to switch the camera view being shown.

"Well," she said, "it seems our last pair has been formed. Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren." She looked at the camera feed and sighed. "Poor boy. I can't see those two ever working well together. Still, he's better off than Miss Nikos…"

* * *

 **Ten minutes later…**

"And that's why it's always important to keep your weapon-loving sisters away from Burn Dust," Yang finished with a smile. Sanguine and Blake both blinked at her before glancing at each other and then back to Yang.

"Remind me to never ask you for any more fishing stories," said Blake, looking a little offended.

"No promises," Yang said with a wide grin.

Sanguine just rolled her eyes as the three of them crested the last hill. As one, they all stopped to look down into the clearing they had reached. Below them was some kind of ruined open-air temple, with crumbling pillars ringing around the edges. There were no signs of life, but Sanguine could make out several stands with objects resting on top of them, but she couldn't make out what the objects were.

"You guys think this is it?" Yang asked.

"Probably," said Sanguine as Blake just gave Yang a look. Together, they moved down the hill and onto flat ground. As they stepped onto the carved stone of the temple, Sanguine got a better look of the various items around the temple edge. They were small towers in either gold or black, and they were all oddly shaped and each was completely different than the ones next on either side of it.

"Chess pieces?" said Blake, looking at the black side of the objects.

"Looks like it," said Yang with her hands on her hips. "Some of them are missing. I guess we're not the first ones here."

"What's 'chess'?" The words were out of Sanguine's mouth before she had time to think. Within a second of her saying it, both Yang and Blake were giving her very shocked looks. "What?" she asked.

"You don't know what chess is?" Yang asked.

"I mean, I think I've heard of it before, but not a lot," Sanguine said, her right hand moving up to comb through her hair. "What is it?"

"It's a board game," Blake answered. "One that focuses on strategy and trying to preempt your opponent's moves. All of the pieces move in different ways, as well. For instance, the queen here can…" Blake trailed off after seeing the flat stare Sanguine was giving her. She straightened up and cleared her throat with a cough. "How about I just explain it to you when we're out of this forest?"

"Not sure if I'm interested," Sanguine said as she turned her back on Blake. "I think I'll leave that kind of stuff for the smart people."

The trio fell into silence again as they looked between the various pieces. Finally, Yang took a golden horse-shaped piece in hand.

"How about a cute little pony?" she asked, holding it up triumphantly.

"Sure," said Blake while Sanguine just shrugged.

"Should we head back now?" Sanguine asked.

"Probably," said Yang. "Maybe if we're lucky we'll run into some more Grimm on the way back. Get a good fight going." Before another word could be said, they all heard a loud, high-pitched scream from somewhere in the forest. "Some girl's in trouble!" Yang said. "We need to do something! Where did it come from?"

"I don't know," Sanguine said, her eyes darting around the tree line. "Blake, any ideas?" There was a long pause. "Blake?" she said again as she and Yang both turned to face the girl. Blake was staring at something above them with rapt attention. "Blake, is something wrong?" The girl looked at them both before pointing up the sky. Sanguine and Yang both craned their heads back to look.

" _Heads uuuuupppppp!"_ they heard from high above them.

"Ruby?!" Yang said in a panic as they saw the red speck coming closer and closer.

 _What the hell is going on?_ thought Sanguine.


	6. Comrades

**AN: Hello readers! Really sorry that this story has been inactive for so long. Master's school pretty much kicked my but, and then I took part in NaNoWriMo. The good news is that the next chapter is already written and edited (special thanks to my lovely beta annbe11), so you should be seeing that one very soon.**

 **A few people have been curious, so I thought I'd describe Obsidian, Sanguine's sword. It's basically an arakh from Game of Thrones, but it has a lever-action shotgun built into the grip. The lever of the weapon is shaped like a cutlass guard, and she holds it there when she fires it and when she swings it. She cocks it the same way as the T-800 in Terminator 2.**

 **With that said, on with the story!**

 **Chapter 5 – Comrades**

"Heads uuuuuupppppp!" Ruby cried out as she plummeted toward the ground, her arms waving uncontrollably. Sanguine, Yang, and Blake were paralyzed with confusion, but Yang finally jolted herself back to the present.

"Don't worry, sis!" she cried, running forward with her arms outstretched. "I'll catch you!" Sanguine moved to follow her, but it turned out neither of them needed to have bothered.

A flying shape made of plate armor and blond hair came soaring out of the woods before smacking into Ruby and sending them both into a tree.

"Was that Jaune?" Sanguine asked.

"Where did your sister come from?" Blake asked, looking at Yang.

"I…" said Yang. All three of them just stared in confusion at where Ruby was sitting in a tree and Jaune was hanging from the tree.

Suddenly, a series of crashing noises came from the edge of the clearing. Sanguine went for Obsidian as a large Ursa stumbled out of the woods, but she was surprised when it fell over on its own.

She was also surprised to see the strange orange-haired girl from earlier this morning riding on the creature's back.

"Awwwww…" the girl said. "It's broken." While she poked at Grimm carcass, a boy in a green shirt came running out of the forest.

"Nora…" he panted, trying to catch his breath. "Please… Don't ever do that again." Only then did he realize that Nora had abandoned him in mid-sentence. The next thing Sanguine knew, the girl was playing with one of those 'chess pieces' and singing a song.

"~I'm queen of the castle! ~I'm queen of the castle!"

"NORA!" the boy yelled, looking a little annoyed.

"Coming, Ren!" she said, giving a salute and a smile that looked too large for a human face.

"What is up with her?" Sanguine wondered.

"Did she just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked.

"Uh…" said Yang.

Yang was interrupted once more when a screech came from the opposite end of the clearing. Sanguine saw a girl with bright red hair and dressed in armor run out of the forest before an enormous Deathstalker smashed a collection of trees aside and gave chase.

Sanguine felt her heart begin to beat louder and harder. She had only ever fought a Deathstalker once, and it had been a horrible experience that she had only just escaped with her life. She had hoped to never see one again for a very long time.

Meanwhile, Ruby had finally gotten herself out of the tree and jumped down to join their group. Yang looked relieved to have her sister back and made to hug her. As Nora appeared in the middle of them with a cheer, Sanguine began urgently gesturing to the giant Deathstalker right in front of them.

"Am I really the only person seeing this?!" Sanguine asked.

"Did that girl just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" asked Blake.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over them and the entire group looked up.

A Nevermore. Because the day wasn't going poorly enough, apparently.

The immense Grimm seemed to blot out the sky itself with its wingspan, it's pitch black feathers swallowing the light of day. As she continued to stare at it, Sanguine noticed a white-clad figure hanging from the creature's talon.

"Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me," she said.

"I… I told her to jump," Ruby said, looking sheepish. Yang suddenly looked enraged again.

"Ruby, how in the hell did the two of you end up riding a Nevermore?!" Yang snapped.

"Well… um… you see… we were just-"

"She's falling," Ren said in a neutral voice. Everyone looked up at the sky to see that, yes, Weiss Schnee was, in fact, falling to her death.

That is, she _was_ falling to her death until Jaune jumped out of the tree and took her in his arms. All that accomplished was that now both of them were falling to the ground, with Jaune landing flat on his stomach and Weiss landing on his back.

"My hero…" she drawled.

"My back…" he whimpered.

Sanguine was starting to wonder what kind of bizarre world she had accidentally entered when the red-haired girl slammed into the ground right in front of her. It looks like her battle with the Deathstalker had gone poorly. Weiss and Jaune ran up to join them, with Jaune limping in pain. Jaune gasped and knelt down by the red-haired girl.

"Pyrrha, are you alright?"

"I'm okay, Jaune," the girl moaned as she took his offered hand and rose to her feet.

"Great," said Yang, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "the gang's all here. Now we can die together."

"Not if I can help it!" said Ruby, before charging at the approaching Deathstalker.

"Ruby, wait!" called Yang, but Ruby was already away. Sanguine unsheathed Obsidian as Yang was activating her gauntlets.

"We need to help Ruby out," Yang said, pointing to where Ruby was standing against the Deathstalker. Sanguine nodded and they both ran toward her. They had made it halfway to her when Ruby collapsed her scythe and retreated, the Deathstalker hot on her heels.

A screech from overhead made them look up at the Nevermore as if came around toward them, it's eyes looking balefully at Ruby. With a flap of its wings, it released a storm of blade-tipped feathers at her, each of them the size of a tree. One feather caught the end of Ruby's cape, jerking her to a stop and forcing her to the ground.

"Ruby, no!" Yang shouted as the feathers speared down in front of her, seeming to make a forest between her and Ruby. Yang immediately started pushing and pulling at the feathers while Sanguine started hacking away at their stalks, but their progress was slow. Too slow.

The Deathstalker slowly crawled toward Ruby as she stood there, still struggling to free her cloak. She looked up at the monster before her and her eyes widened. Just as it raised its stinger, a flash of white whizzed past them all and came to a stop by Ruby. Sanguine had enough time to see that it was Weiss Schnee before a huge pillar of ice came into existence, swallowing up the Deathstalker's stinger and keeping it in place.

"Oh thank the gods," Yang said in relief. Sanguine nodded before looking at the sides of the forest of feathers.

"C'mon," she said, tapping Yang's shoulder. "We can go around and get to them."

As she and Yang made their way to where Ruby and Weiss where, the two girls looked like they were having a conversation, with Weiss's posture becoming less angry as the conversation continued. The conversation ended just as Yang and Sanguine reached them and Weiss walked away. The captive Deathstalker roared in anger as Yang finally reached her sister.

"I'm so happy you're okay!" Yang cried, sweeping Ruby up into a bone-crushing hug. After a few grunts of discomfort, Ruby managed to give her sister a smile before the Nevermore's cry rang through the clearing.

"Guys, that things circling back!" Jaune said, pointing at the sky. "What do we do?"

"I say we get out of here," Sanguine suggested, casting short glances at the restrained Deathstalker.

"Yes," said Weiss. "There's no sense in sticking around. We should grab what we need and then move."

"They're right," Ruby agreed, finally escaping from Yang's embrace. "Let's just grab our artifacts and run. We need to get to the cliffs as fast as we can. There's no point fighting these things."

"Run and live," said Jaune, looking relieved. "That sounds like a plan I can get behind."

Both Ruby and Jaune rushed back to the temple and grabbed their own chess pieces before coming back to the group. The ice around the Deathstalker's stinger was starting to crack and the Nevermore was preparing to swoop down on them, so the group as a whole turned to the cliffs and ran for the cover of the forest.

"Whatever you do," said Ruby, "don't stop. They'll be right behind us."

The group kept going, with the leaves above hiding the Nevermore from sight. However, it wasn't long before they heard the faint sound of breaking ice from a great distance behind them.

"Might want to pick up the pace!" Sanguine called from her position close to the back. The others nodded and began running faster. After hard running, the group managed to reach a large ruin next to the cliffs, consisting of a huge tower-like structure in the middle of a ravine with stone bridges connecting it to solid ground.

A shadow passed over them again as the Nevermore flew ahead and perched itself on the tower before crying out a challenge to them. They all ducked behind cover to catch their breath.

"What now?" asked Yang, looking annoyed.

Before anyone could answer, the trees behind them exploded as the Deathstalker appeared again, screeching in rage.

"Run!" cried Jaune as he sprinted forward.

"These things just don't quit!" snarled Sanguine as she and the rest of the group ran for the bridge.

The Nevermore again flared its wings before hurling what looked like hundreds of razor-sharp feathers at them. An instant later, though, it was suddenly stopped when it was rocked by a series of pink explosions. A quick glance told her that Nora was firing grenades at the monster, forcing it to take to the air again. Nora was starting to laugh when the Deathstalker was suddenly behind her and raised its stinger for a killing blow. The warning was almost out of Sanguine's mouth before Blake and Ren both attacked the giant scorpion, making it back off from Nora.

"Keep going!" shouted Blake. Sanguine gave a jerky nod before she started moving again. There was a bridge leading to the temple and Sanguine ran for it, feeling the others following her.

"Go, go!" yelled Pyrrha, changing her sword into a rifle and firing on the Deathstalker. Sanguine turned over her shoulder to give the creature a blast from Obsidian as she ran. The group came to a long stone bridge and started crossing, with Pyrrha giving covering fire until they were all on the bridge. The Deathstalker was too large to fit onto the bridge, and it looked like all nine of them would make their getaway.

That is until Sanguine saw the Nevermore dive straight at the bridge. Straight at _them._

"Incoming!" she shouted, hurling herself into Yang's back and propelling them both forward. The segment of the bridge just behind them exploded, sending the two of them and many of their comrades flying toward the temple. The explosion sent Sanguine flying end over end and she went tumbling to the cobblestones. She managed to catch herself, however, and landed on her feet, allowing her to look over the situation. The bridge was destroyed, and Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren were on the other side facing off against the Deathstalker. In the air, the Nevermore was coming around for another pass.

"We need to get to higher ground," said Ruby. "That will give us the best shot at it."

"What about the others?" asked Yang.

"We just need to trust that they can take care of the Deathstalker," said Weiss as the four of them started ascending the tower. The ruins may be crumbling, but the standing structure was filled with ledges and handholds that made it very easy to climb to the top of the center tower. Just when they reached the top of the tower, Blake suddenly landed beside them, making them jump in surprise.

"Blake, you made it!" Yang cheered happily. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said with a nod. "When this is over, though, I am having a _serious_ discussion with Nora about being aware of your surroundings." Further conversation was interrupted by the screech of the Nevermore. "I took a few swings at it on the way over. It's tougher than it looks," Blake said as stood up straight.

"It can still die," Sanguine said with a snarl as she lowered Obsidian and chambered a round into her pistol.

"Let's hit it with everything we got!" said Yang, cocking her gauntlets.

The Nevermore wheeled around in the air and starting flying right toward them. Each of the five girls raised their weapons and began firing at the approaching Grimm. Sanguine was firing her pistol as fast as she possibly could, trying to aim toward the Nevermore's head. She had never fired at a target so far away before and cursed herself for having no long-range equipment.

Despite the massive storm of weapons fire they were sending at the monster, the Nevermore just kept on coming. All five of them had a look of panic come over their faces before they all jumped from the tower. The Nevermore smashed through the age-old stonework only an instant later.

For the second time that day, Sanguine was in freefall. This time, however, she was much less surprised and much more pissed off. The foundation of the tower plunging down into the mists below was within reach so she took action. Sanguine snapped open Obsidian's blade and swung it into the stone, grinding herself to a halt before heaving herself upward into the air. She jumped back and forth between falling rocks before finally landing on solid ground. She had landed next to Ruby and Weiss, while Blake was on a separate walkway and Yang was already back on top of the tower, firing over and over again at the Nevermore.

"This isn't working," Weiss said, a tinge of worry in her voice. Sanguine was wracking her brain for some sort of strategy to use against something like this. Ruby also looked like she was concentrating, but her eyes suddenly brightened.

"I have a plan," said Ruby. Her eyes snapped toward Sanguine. "Can you ground it?"

Sanguine paused for a moment to look at the Nevermore before nodding.

"Yeah, I can do that."

"Good," said Ruby with a nod. "Get up top and see what you can do to get it to ground level. Also, tell Yang to get down here. I need her help."

"On it," Sanguine said as she took a running start toward the tower before jumping up and grabbing hold of the cracked stonework. She ascended the tower as fast as she could, leaping from handhold to handhold and scrambling up the surface like a spider.

In short time, she reached the top of the tower, where Yang was still firing at the flying monster. Yang gave her a confused look.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Ruby needs you on ground level," answered Sanguine. "She's got a plan." To Sanguine's surprise, Yang leapt off the tower without another word. Sanguine stared after her for a moment before shaking herself back to the present.

Turning her attention to the rapidly approaching Nevermore, Sanguine ran her hand over a sharp jag of rock, slicing open her palm. She suppressed her wince of pain and began to concentrate. Blood rose from her wound and turned into two spears as long as her arm, which she grabbed hold of in her right hand after willing her Aura to heal her injury. She drew her pistol in her free hand and squeezed off a few shots at the monster, watching the bullets ping off of its bone plate armor.

"Hey asshole!" she shouted, holstering her pistol and taking a spear in each hand. "C'mere! I got something for you!" The Nevermore changed its path slightly and started swooping toward her, it's deafening cry echoing against the temple walls. Sanguine stood her ground, focusing on keeping her breathing under control.

When the Nevermore was almost upon her, Sanguine ran for the edge of the tower. She made a short hop to the side and planted her foot on a raised wall before kicking off into the air as the Nevermore slammed into the tower. Sanguine was suddenly airborne and close enough to touch the side of the Nevermore's face.

She didn't waste her chance.

With a growl of exertion, she thrust forward with her blood spears, plunging each one into the eyes on the left side of the Nevermore's head. The monster screamed in pain as it whipped its head back and forth, desperate to dislodge her. Sanguine just tightened her grip as her body was tossed around like a ragdoll. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the Nevermore was headed right for the cliff side. She released her hold and dropped like a stone until she hit the bridge and rolled into the landing. She looked up in time to see the massive Grimm slam into the side of the cliff with a loud crash and drop to the ground. It was only a moment before it stood back up on its talons and screeched at her.

A flash of white sped by, making Sanguine blink in surprise. Suddenly, Weiss was in front of her, stabbing her sword into the ground beneath the Nevermore and creating a pillar of ice, freezing the monster's tail feathers in place. It screeched in anger as it tried to take to the air again, but was unable to make it far up the ground.

As Sanguine was distracted by this, Weiss returned in another flash of speed and took hold of her arm. A spinning glyph appeared beneath them for an instant before they both sped toward the center area of the temple. They had stopped moving before Sanguine even had time to cry out in surprise. The sudden deceleration didn't seem to bother Weiss, but it caused Sanguine to fall over herself as soon as Weiss let go. She managed to catch herself and flip to her feet before turning around to face the other girls. After a moment of looking at their setup, she knew what was about to happen. Weiss's glyphs were holding Ruby in place as she rested at the end of a very taut ribbon held by Blake and Yang, making it seem like Ruby was the ammunition in the world's largest slingshot. And it was aimed right at the struggling Nevermore.

"Of course _you_ would have this idea," said Weiss, not sounding happy about this plan. Ruby just kept her eyes locked on the massive Grimm.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked.

"Hmph. _Can_ I?" Weiss responded. There was a silence before Ruby looked at Weiss with a hint of concern.

"Can you-"

"Of course I can!" Weiss snapped.

Ruby nodded her head and cocked her rifle. The next moment, she was sent flying through the air, using the power of her rifle to propel her even further forward. The Nevermore actually managed to break free of its icy restraints before Ruby hit it, planting her feet on the wall while wrapping the blade of her scythe around its neck. With a gesture from Weiss, a long path of glyphs appeared on the wall and Ruby started running, dragging the Nevermore along with her. Moments later, Ruby reached the edge of the cliff and fired one last round from Crescent Rose. With a tearing sound that they could hear even from the temple, the Nevermore's head was separated from the rest of its body.

Smoke poured from the decapitated neck as the body fell down the side of the cliff and into the mist below. Ruby appeared on the top of the cliff, her cape billowing in the wind and, curiously, releasing a stream of roses into the air. Sanguine finally allowed herself to breathe as her head slumped down and she placed her hands on her thighs.

"Well… that was a thing," said Yang.

"I feel like that was more than just 'a thing', Yang," Weiss said. She looked back at the cliff before her face fell. "So… do we have to climb up the cliff now."

"Not in the mood for a little rock climbing, Princess?" Sanguine asked. Weiss glared at her and looked like she was about to say something before they heard the sound of an engine above them. They all looked up and saw a Bullhead descending toward them with its bay doors starting to open. Yang looked at them and smiled.

"Looks like we get to have a ride instead," she said happily.

* * *

The Bullhead picked up all of their group that hadn't made it up the cliff and carried them to the top, where Ruby met them. She was excited in the aftermath of the battle and she and Nora both treated each other to a play-by-play of how each group had taken down their respective Grimm. All nine of them made their way to the main hall they had gathered in the day before to find that the ceremony was already in motion. Sanguine was quite happy when Ruby and Nora stopped arguing about who had the more impressive battle.

Professor Ozpin stood on the stage from yesterday and had both of his hands clasping his cane. A team of four hunter students was leaving the stage as he opened his mouth again.

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." A moment later, four large boys came onto the stage and stood at attention before him. Sanguine allowed her eyes to skate over them. They all looked physically strong, especially the one in armor who looked particularly brutish. Screens above the stage lit up with the pictures from their applications. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!" The large brown-haired young man bowed his head, but Sanguine could still see a wide smirk on his lips.

Something told her she would need to keep an eye on him.

The newly-christened Team CRDL left the stage to polite applause as Professor Ozpin called out more names.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie."

Jaune and the others gave them smiles and waves before making their way up to the stage. When they had taken their places, Professor Ozpin continued.

"The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR." Nora laughed and gave Ren a hug, which he didn't return but didn't look like he was in a hurry to get out of. "Lead by…" Professor Ozpin continued. "Jaune Arc!"

Jaune seemed very surprised at hearing his name called. Sanguine looked him over before giving a mental shrug. Jaune hadn't been too impressive before, but maybe he would be a surprise in his role as leader. As Pyrrha's congratulatory punch to the shoulder only succeeded in knocking him to the ground, Sanguine found herself reconsidering her stance on him. Professor Ozpin spoke again as Team JNPR left the stage.

"And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. Sanguine." Whispers spread throughout the crowd as Sanguine and the others climbed the stage and stood before Professor Ozpin. "While a team of five may be slightly unorthodox, all of you performed very well together in the forest. You all retrieved the white knight pieces as well. From this moment forward, you will be known as Team RWBYS. Lead by… Ruby Rose!"

Ruby blinked in surprise as she was named leader before Yang seized her in a bear hug that lifted her off the ground.

"I'm so proud of you, Ruby!" she said happily.

Ruby looked like she was busy trying not to suffocate in her sister's embrace. As she squirmed, she made eye contact with Sanguine, and Sanguine gave her a nod of approval.

 _This is going to be an interesting year_ , she said to herself. She closed her eyes and bowed her head, feeling the tension drain from her body. _I made it, Mr. Qrow. I made it._

* * *

 **AN: For those of you who have any interest in the Batman Arkham series, I've recently joined the 'Arkham RWBY' club. I'm writing the Nora version of the story, titled _The Hammer of the Bat_. If you're interested, feel free to check it out.**

 **I always love getting feedback. Let me know what you think. See you soon!**


	7. Team Life

**AN: Hello everyone! Don't really have much to say here, but I hope you guys enjoy the next chapter.**

 **Chapter 6 – Team Life**

After the team naming ceremony, all of the new Beacon teams made their way one by one to a table that had been set up on one side of the main hall. Professor Goodwitch sat at the desk in front of a holographic computer screen with a clipboard in her off hand.

"Next," she said, as the team in front of RWBYS finished. Ruby lead her team forward with a confident stride.

"Hello, Professor Goodwitch," she said with a smile.

"Good day, Miss Rose," Professor Goodwitch said with a nod. She cast a look over the rest of the team, with her eyes lingering longest on Sanguine. "You will be receiving your dorm clearance today. Your passkey will be tied to your scrolls. May I see them please?"

One by one, the members of Team RWBYS handed their scrolls to her so Professor Goodwitch could place them in a slot connected to the computer. When it came to be Sanguine's turn, Professor Goodwitch just nodded to her and reached under the desk before taking out a scroll. It was a bit bulkier than the scrolls of the other RWBYS members and was likely a model from a few years ago.

"Here you are, Miss Sanguine," Professor Goodwitch said. "It's already been loaded with your passkey and a handful of applications you might find useful."

"Thank you," Sanguine said, taking the scroll from her. She knew she was getting odd looks from her new teammates, but she didn't acknowledge them yet.

"You five will be in room 428. Your luggage has already been taken up to your room and you will all find a few uniforms to use for classes." Sanguine started to open her mouth. "And yes, Miss Sanguine, your uniform requests have been approved." Sanguine closed her mouth and nodded thankfully. Professor Goodwitch handed a sheet of paper to each of them. "You will all be taking your classes together, with the exception of Weapon Sub-groups and Leadership training. The former will have all students grouped into categories based on their primary weapon and the later will be exclusively for Miss Rose and other team leaders." Sanguine heard Ruby gulp at hearing that. "Make sure that the five of you make it to your classes on time and I'll see you tomorrow. Have a pleasant sleep.

"Thank you, Professor," they all said as they made their way out of the main hall. Sanguine shoved her class schedule into her pocket without looking at it, biting the inside of her lip. She tried to clear the thoughts from her mind as she followed her teammates toward their dorm building.

They decided that, after such a long day, they would take the elevator up to the fourth floor where their room was. When they reached room 428, Sanguine noticed that the door across the hall was wide open.

"Ruby! Guys! Hey!" they all heard through the open door, making the rest of Sanguine's team turn to face Jaune's smiling face. The rest of Team JNPR was in their room, waving at them from behind Jaune's shoulders.

Sanguine found herself rolling her eyes as Ruby and Yang returned JNPR's excited greetings. Her interactions with Jaune made Sanguine not particularly eager to be living right across the hall from him. Weiss turned her nose up as Jaune attempted to talk to her while Blake just decided to ignore it all and open the door to their dorm.

Blake and Sanguine were the first ones in, and they noticed that the room was a little cramped. There were five beds arranged in the room, with four being arranged in what was likely the usual pattern of being side by side while a fifth was perpendicular to the rest and shoved into a corner, fighting for space with two wooden desks. There was a closet on one wall of the room while the other had a door leading to a small bathroom and shower. Various pieces of luggage were arranged in the center of the main room. Sanguine easily found her knapsack where it was resting against a pile of Dust cases. Each bed had two sets of the Beacon school uniform on it, and Sanguine moved her knapsack over to the bed that had been set off in the corner.

Ruby let out a loud groan as she stepped into the room.

"All in favor of just going straight to bed?" she asked as she faceplanted into the bed closest to the left side of the room.

"I'm game for that," Yang said, stretching her arms over her head. "Dibs on this one." She fell onto the far right bed and was gently snoring in moments with Ruby not far behind her. Weiss and Blake silently took the time to shower and change before they too lay down to sleep. Sanguine removed her boots, sweater, and hair tie before she lay down on her bed. She closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep, hoping not to be plagued by nightmares tonight.

* * *

"Hey, um, Sanguine?" Sanguine heard from the depths of sleep. Her eyes opened slowly and she looked up. Ruby, still dressed in her clothes from yesterday, was staring down at her. Dawn was just beginning to creep over the horizon.

"Yes, Ruby?" she asked, trying to keep the growl out of her voice.

"Why are you on the ground?"

Sanguine grunted as she herself up to a sitting position. At one point during the night, after fitful tossing and turning, Sanguine had eventually decided 'to hell with it' and just curled up on the floor in the middle of the room. She had gotten to sleep much faster that way.

"Bed was too soft," she muttered. She pushed herself to her feet and grabbed one of the plastic wrapped uniforms still lying by her bed. "I'll take a shower first," she said over her shoulder. As she closed the door behind her, she turned on the water and stripped her clothes off. She showered as quickly as she could in the icy water before shutting it off and toweling herself dry.

During the entire process, she made absolutely certain to never look at her reflection in the mirror.

As she tore open the plastic wrapping of her uniform, she was pleased to see that she had been given the standard female uniform but with pants instead of a skirt. She dressed in underwear and pulled the uniform on quickly, feeling pleased that they fit her. Ozpin had only guessed at her sizes when they had first met about her attending Beacon, and it was good that the uniform fit her.

She moved to open the door handle, but her hand froze over the knob. Sanguine reflected on all that had happened the previous day. She was at Beacon Academy, on the path to becoming a huntress. She had a team, a group of other girls she felt like she might one day actually trust. Finally, these girls were her comrades, people she had fought alongside to destroy a hated monster and that, for however short the battle had lasted, she had trusted to watch her back.

 _Maybe…_ , a part of her thought, _just maybe…_

She turned from the door and stared into the mirror. Her copy within met her penetrating stare. Sanguine looked at her face, her eyes, the curl of her mouth, and the way she carried herself. It was all familiar, yet not in the way she had dared herself to hope for. She sighed in disappointment and turned from the mirror.

There was no sign of Opal. There was only Sanguine.

She had made it only two steps into the dorm room before a blur of red shot past her and door closed again. Sanguine only barely restrained herself from going on guard. If the previous two days were any indication, she was going to need to get used to Ruby doing things such as that.

Blake and Yang were also up and about, though Yang looked particularly dead to the world as she was pressing her face against the wall while still snoring. Yang's long mane of hair was in full-blown rebellion, with every strand pointed in a completely different direction. Blake was at least looking coherent enough to read a book she had taken from one of her suitcases. She looked up at Sanguine and stared at her uniform curiously.

"Why are you wearing pants?" she asked.

"Don't feel comfortable in skirts," Sanguine answered after a pause. For a moment, Blake just stared at her before it looked like she was going to ask another question.

"Why yes, Miss Desiree… I'd love to have a private recital with you…" Yang muttered into the wall before snoring again. Blake and Sanguine both looked at her before rolling their eyes.

Weiss, unlike the others, was still asleep. Sanguine considered waking her but decided that Weiss would eventually need to wake up on her own. Instead, Sanguine sat down on her bed and pulled out her scroll. She swiped it open and started looking through the different applications, puzzling out how to use them. By the time Ruby, Blake, and Yang were all showered and dressed, Sanguine had figured out the voice recorder function, the scrollnet search, and what she was pretty sure was a link to UsTube.

Sanguine glanced up and saw Ruby quietly stalking toward Weiss's bed, where the heiress was just starting to rouse herself to wakefulness when Ruby blew on a whistle, making Weiss leap into the air in fright.

"Good morning, Team RWBYS!" Ruby cheered as she hopped up and down happily.

"What in the world is wrong with you?!" snapped Weiss, who looked for all appearances like she was trying to kill Ruby with her mind.

"Nice of you to wake up, Weiss!" said Ruby, seeming not to notice. "Now that you're awake, we can start our first order of business."

"And what would that be?" snarled Weiss.

"Decorating!" Yang cheered, already holding an armload of pillows, posters, and other items.

"We also need to unpack," supplied Blake, holding up one of her suitcases. Weiss looked like she was considering this for a moment before her train of thought was derailed by Ruby blasting on her whistle again.

"Alright!" she said happily. "Weiss, Blake, Yang, Sanguine, and their fearless leader Ruby have just begun their first mission. Banzai!" She threw her fist up into the air with a shining grin.

"Banzai!" Yang responded, jumping up to mirror her sister's pose.

Blake and Sanguine glanced at each other for a moment before they both shrugged and raised their arms.

"Banzai," they both said. Weiss just scowled at them.

"Do you think you can use that whistle a little closer, please?" she asked Ruby. "I'm hoping you can make me go deaf." Ruby just laughed at that before turning to her luggage. With that, they got to work.

Weiss took enough time to shower and change, grumbling all the way, as the rest of the team started decorating their dorm. Since Sanguine's worldly possessions consisted only of her weapons, some camping supplies, and a single change of clothes, she didn't have much to contribute to the decoration of the room. None of her teammates looked like they needed help and none of them asked for aid, so she went back to puzzling out her scroll. From the corner of her eye, she saw Yang hanging up posters of various boy bands and Blake unpacking her clothes and a large supply of books. Ruby attempted to hang up a set of red curtains using Crescent Rose before she predictably sliced them in half. Weiss started throwing a fit upon seeing this when she came out of the bathroom and she continued to go on about Ruby's immaturity while Blake started mending the curtain with a small sewing kit.

When everything had been set up to the team's liking, they encountered the problem that the beds were in the way of everything. This was solved by the hurried construction of bunk beds, with Ruby's bed being suspended over Weiss's by use of sheets and robes and Yang using books to prop hers on top of Blake's. In Sanguine's opinion, neither of these options seemed particularly safe, but her teammates seemed to enjoy them, so she was not one to judge.

Sanguine surprised her team by removing the mattress from her bed and letting it flop down in the center of the room.

"You guys can use that to sit on or stretch out or whatever," she said as she attempted to dismantle the bedframe. After a few seconds of confusion, she decided it would be best to do this another day.

"Aren't you going to sleep on that?" Yang asked. Sanguine just shook her head.

"Too soft. I don't like it."

"I found her sleeping on the floor," Ruby added.

"Wow. Hardcore," Yang said, giving Sanguine a thumbs up.

"So where are you going to sleep?" Blake asked.

Sanguine looked around the room and thought to herself for a solution came to her.

"I've got an idea," she said, grabbing her bed's abandoned blanket and pulling Backstabber from her pocket. To their credit, Yang and Blake only winced as they watched her slice her palm open. Ruby and Weiss, meanwhile, both screamed in alarm.

"Oh my gods!" Weiss shouted, looking paler than normal.

"Don't worry, Sanguine! I'll get the first aid kit!" cried Ruby. Thankfully, Yang seized her before she could run off.

"Don't worry, Ruby," Yang tried to say in a calming tone of voice. "It's alright."

"'Alright'?! Sanguine's bleeding! Did you miss that or something?" Ruby cried frantically.

"She's right, Ruby," Sanguine said, turning to look at them. "Don't worry. It's my semblance." She demonstrated by creating two nails out of blood before using her Aura to heal her wound. Weiss and Ruby both blinked in confusion.

"That's… alarming," said Weiss. Ruby nodded in agreement.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Ruby asked.

"Of course it does," Sanguine said as if it were obvious, "but pain and I have a bit of a history together. This is pretty small." She placed Backstabber in her pocket and folded the blanket a few times. She nailed each end of the blanket to a wall in the corner of the room and pulled herself onto her makeshift hammock and stretched out over it. After a moment of thought, she nodded to herself. "This is much better."

"Now I really want a hammock," Yang complained.

"I don't think we have space for more than one," said Blake.

"Alright team," said Ruby, deciding it would be best to move on, "the next item of the day is… classes." She sighed in disappointment before pulling out their school schedules. "Now, we'll be taking most classes together. On Mondays and Wednesdays, we've got Grimm Studies first, then History, then lunch, then Sparring, then Huntsman Rules and Policies, and then I have Leadership training in the afternoon while the rest of you have a free period. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have Environmental Conditioning, followed by more Sparring, then Usage of Dust and we end the day with another session of Grimm Studies."

"What's Environmental Conditioning?" asked Yang, cocking her head.

"It means we have to learn how to survive in the wilderness," Blake answered. Yang nodded in understanding while Weiss just shuddered at the thought.

"Finally," said Ruby, "on Fridays we start the day with Physical Training, and then a few hours of training in weapon sub-groups and semblance mentoring."

"Alright," said Weiss, nodding at this. "What time is Grimm Studies today?"

"Um…" Ruby said, looking over her schedule. "Nine o'clock."

"Nine o'clock?!" cried Weiss, making Ruby flinch.

"Uh, yes."

"It's eight fifty-five, you dunce!" With that, Weiss slammed the door open and sprinted down the hallway.

"Um, to class!" shouted Ruby, taking off running after her. She was soon joined by Yang, Blake, and Sanguine as they sprinted down the halls.

Sanguine found herself wondering if this would become a trend.

 **AN: I was actually expecting to make it to the first class this chapter, but the muses had other ideas. Also, from this point on, I will be _radically_ changing the story of Volume 1. I've got a good idea of where I'm going and I hope you all enjoy the ride.**

 **Don't forget to leave a review!**


	8. The First Day

**AN: Hello all. I'm sorry that this chapter took so long. Last semester was tough at grad school and I've had nonstop writer's block for the first half of the summer.**

 **Man, it's been over a year since I started this story. I thought I'd be at least partway through the first volume by now, but here I am and I haven't even started the first day.**

 **Regardless, this is the first chapter of my Dramatic RWBY Volume 1 Rewrite. Many plot points are going to be inspired by the Fixing RWBY series by Celtic Phoenix Productions (whose videos you should totally check out, btw), but I'm putting my own spin on everything.**

 **As always, many thanks to my beloved beta annbe11 and my eternal thanks to all of you who have followed, faved, or reviewed this story. Thank you all so much.**

 **On with the show!**

 **Chapter 7 – The First Day**

Weiss Schnee was not having a good day. In fact, if she said so herself, her morning was off to an utterly dreadful start. She was still reeling from the fact that a mere child was apparently her partner and also her leader, likely due to some sort of administrative prank. On top of that, the day had barely started and she had been woken up by a whistle to the ear, bore witness to the most unsettling Semblance she had ever laid eyes on, and was now sprinting through the halls of Beacon with only seconds left before the start of their first class due to the abysmal planning of the aforementioned child leader. Now she was about to be late to her very first class at Beacon and it was all the fault of her sorry excuse for a team.

She made a mental note to have strong words with the administrators at the next available opportunity.

Mercifully, the classroom finally came into view just as her watch turned to 9:02. Weiss caught the edge of the door frame and practically swung herself inside, just barely getting the door open in time for her to not run right into it. The classroom was already filled, with many first-year students already occupying the lecture-style desks focused toward the lowered teacher's station. Shockingly, the teacher was not present. Weiss let out a sigh of relief.

The boards at the front of the room were covered with diagrams of Grimm, labeling different body parts and giving notes on weaknesses. The walls were also decorated with Grimm skulls all along the walls, where they glared at students with empty sockets. Weiss flinched away from their gaze and began looking for a place to sit.

The other members of Weiss' 'team' arrived after her, with none of them seeming too out of breath. Weiss made an effort to slow her breathing down, trying to hide the fact she was panting from the run through the school. Team JNPR entered the room as well, led by a gasping Jaune. Weiss scowled in distaste. No doubt he had similarly poor planning skills and made his entire team late. Pyrrha Nikos deserved so much better than him.

Now that she was in class and the professor was still nowhere in sight, Weiss allowed herself to begin the process of calming down. She made her way down the center aisle toward the front row, where she knew she would have the best focus and be able to take the best notes. She was aware of her teammates following her down the aisle, but she just ignored them.

She was halfway down the aisle when she suddenly heard someone call her.

"Weiss! Weiss! Over here!"

Sitting in the aisle seat of one of the desk rows was a familiar face. Weiss fixed a grin on her face and waved back.

"Rosa, how wonderful to see you! I didn't know you were coming to Beacon."

Rosa Heart beamed at Weiss before shifting in her seat to reach out and clasp Weiss' hands. She was a short girl, shorter than even Weiss herself. Her hair was short and wavy and matched her scarlet eyes. She wore the Beacon female uniform as well as her prized fascinator, a tiny black top hat done up with a red bow and a rose that was perched on her head at a jaunty angle with a plastic band lost in her hair.

"I didn't know you were coming here either," she said with a beaming smile. "It's been so long since we last saw each other."

Weiss nodded in agreement. She had known Rosa for many years. The Heart family was of the Atlas high society and would frequently attend the same parties as the Schnee family. Rosa's father was a major player in the stock market of Mantle while her mother ran a series of conservation efforts dedicated to protecting the parts of Remnant that were still claimed for humanity. Being the only two people at those parties in their particular age group naturally caused Weiss and Rosa to gravitate toward each other and pass the time with polite conversation and gossip. While Weiss was pleased with any opportunity she had to speak with Rosa, she had never really considered the other girl a friend.

In Weiss's mind, Rosa had never really brought enough to the table that would make a friendship with her worthwhile.

Rosa beamed and clapped her hands together.

"These must be your teammates! A pleasure to meet you. I'm Rosa Heart." While Weiss's teammates introduced themselves, Weiss looked past Rosa to the motley group she was sitting with. All of them were dressed in the Beacon school uniform, but each had slight personal embellishments. The tall boy sitting next to Rosa wore a dark green top hat on his head covering his mousy brown hair. He gave Weiss a smile and a polite nod.

Weiss looked down the row before her thought process stuttered to a stop. A boy and girl sat at the end of the row. They were practically identical as well, with both having purple eyes and messy silver hair. The girl had her hair in a pair of short pigtails while the boy had shoulder-length hair with bangs hanging in front of his face. Both of them seemed relaxed but were focusing their attention toward the current introductions. This wasn't what made Weiss pause, however.

It was the fact that they were both Faunus.

The girl had a pair of silver cat ears on the top her head, idly twitching and flicking as she sat. The boy, on the other hand, had a long silver-furred tail lightly swinging back and forth. Another thing that surprised Weiss was that the girl was wearing a pink scarf tied around her waist so it had the appearance of a tail and the boy wore a sleeveless purple hoodie with cat ears sewn into the hood.

It was almost as if they were making extra effort to appear as identical as possible.

Weiss suddenly realized that Rosa had finished introducing herself to Team RWBYS and was excitedly gesturing to her own team.

"This is my partner, Theodore Dasher. He's a native of Vale." The boy next to her tipped his hat and smiled at them all. "And over there from Vacuo are the Haze Twins, our leader Shirley and her brother Chess. Together, we're Team SCRT."

"Nice to meet you," Shirley said, giving them a small smile.

"Nice to meet you too," Yang responded, shaking hands with all four of them. "What do you guys think of Beacon so far?"

"Nothing to complain about," Chess answered. "Certainly beats the desert, and the food is much better. I can already tell that this lady agrees." He had grinned and jerked his thumb at Sanguine as he said it, which caused her to merely shrug and Ruby and Yang to descend into a fit of giggles for some strange reason.

"What about you, Theo?" Ruby asked.

The boy opened his mouth and looked as though he was about to speak, only for him to stop and give them a smile before shrugging and wobbling his hand like a wave.

"He's holding off judgment for the moment," Rosa explained, "but he thinks it's a good place to build up his skills and make the world safer." She paused and blinked for a moment, as though she had just remembered something. "Also, he doesn't speak."

"Oh," said Ruby, now looking stricken. "Um… sorry about that. I didn't know." Theo maintained his smile and waved his hand in a 'bygones-be-bygones' sort of matter.

Before this strange breed of conversation could continue. The door suddenly opened as a portly man with gray hair and a voluminous mustache walked in.

"Oh-ho- _ho!_ " he chortled. "My apologies for being late, dear students. I was kept by a short staff meeting. If you all would please take your seats, we may begin."

Weiss set herself down in the front row, taking out a pencil, eraser, and notebook. She didn't want to miss a single bit of this. The professor strode to the front of the room to stand behind his desk.

"Now then," he said, "my name is Professor Port, and it is my great pleasure to welcome you to Grimm Studies 101. If you are in the wrong class, please leave and find the place you are _actually_ supposed to be." He paused, and a group of four students in the back suddenly shot up and ran out the door. Weiss glared at the desk in front of her. Was she the only person in this entire school who was taking this seriously?

"Alright," continued Professor Port, "with that out of the way, let us begin. You are all here because you have realized that our world is a very dangerous place. Not only do bandits prowl the wilderness, but monsters scratch at our city gates. The creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as…prey! Ha-ha!"

He stared at the students for a few long moments as an uncomfortable silence took over the room. Weiss blinked and realized she had actually started writing down Professor Port's introduction before she stopped herself.

"Well, um, anyway," the teacher continued, "one day, all of you will freely hunt the creatures of Grimm, once you have graduated from this prestigious academy. Our kingdoms are safe havens among the darkness of the world, a world absolutely _teeming_ with creatures that want nothing more than to rip you to shreds. That's where we come in. Our kingdoms are defended by the efforts of courageous Huntsmen and beautiful Huntresses."

Then, to Weiss' shock, Port winked and clicked his tongue in the direction of Sanguine. As Weiss found herself thinking about how unprofessional an action like that was, Sanguine's eyes turned cold.

"Do that again," she said in a tone as impassive as an idle guillotine, "and I'll rip that mustache right off your lip."

The room was suddenly seized by absolute silence. One could hear a pin drop as everyone seemed to hold their breath. Weiss' mouth dropped open as she, her teammates, and presumably the entire class stared at Sanguine. The silence was broken by a laugh from Professor Port.

"Now _that's_ what I like to hear, miss! You've got the fire of great Huntress within you! What's your name, miss?"

"Sanguine," she said after a pause. "Just Sanguine."

Professor Port seemed to freeze for a moment before he nodded in acceptance.

"Well met, Miss Sanguine. Well met, indeed." With that, he clasped his hands behind his back and continued pacing. "We will go over the course schedule today and what you are expected to learn for this class, from the various Grimm species to the most effective ways of incapacitating each one." He stopped and seemed to smile under his mustache. "Ah, that reminds me of a time long past, when I took down a Beowulf with my bare hands."

Professor Port continued as he told them a story of when he was a young Huntsman. He went into copious details about the town he grew up in, the grandfather who taught him, the ladies he was sweet on at one point or another. The longer the story went on, the deeper Weiss' heart sank. None of this was important, none of it was helpful, and none of it deserved to be on a test. Weiss' pencil gradually stopped moving as if it were giving up on its own volition. A glance at her teammates showed that Blake was watching their teacher with a bored expression on her face, Yang was looking like she was about to fall asleep, Ruby was doodling in her notebook, and Sanguine was… just staring blankly at the wall. She didn't even have a notebook in front of her. The only thing on her desk was her bulky scroll.

 _It's like she's not even pretending to care,_ Weiss thought with distaste. Even if her teammates and her so-called 'leader' weren't paying attention to the admittedly useless lecture, they at least brought proper materials to show they were prepared to learn.

 _Things would be better if I was in charge_ , Weiss thought to herself as she settled in for a long, useless class.

* * *

Overall, the first day at Beacon did not leave a particularly good impression on Weiss. To her surprise and horror, Weiss actually found herself wondering if things would have been better if she had stayed in Atlas for her education instead of transferring to Beacon.

The first session of History class was just as mind-numbing as the previous class, but for the exact opposite reason. Unlike in Grimm Studies lecture, which provided too little information, the history teacher Doctor Oobleck gave way too much information. The man spent the entire time speaking at an almost incomprehensible speed, not to mention constantly darting back and forth across the class, utterly heedless of student whiplash as they tried to follow him with their gazes.

Lunch was spent with the members of team JNPR and SCRT, where they all made their official introductions. Jaune spent the entire lunch period trying to flirt with or impress her, heedless of Weiss' attempts to start a conversation with Pyrrha. It annoyed Weiss to now end.

Sparring was at least a little interesting if only to see how the students matched up against one another. Yang was chosen to battle against Dove, one of the members of team CRDL, and she was victorious almost within moments. There a few other battles involving students Weiss did not care about, but it gave her insight into some of their fighting styles and allowed her to put together theoretical plans on how to fight them.

The only academic class that Weiss actually enjoyed that day was Huntsmen Rules and Policies, taught by Professor Goodwitch. The students would be learning about the various rules and regulations Huntsmen and Huntresses would be expected to follow in carrying out their duties, from collateral damage to cooperating with local law enforcement. Weiss was very much looking forward to learning as much about this as possible, looking forward to a feeling of structure, discipline, and professionalism in at least one of her lessons.

The day also served to show her how much her teammates did not deserve to attend this school. The observations made today made her want to grind her teeth. Blake made an attempt to copy down notes and pay attention in class, but Weiss had noticed her reading under her desk numerous times over the course of the day. Yang and Ruby both seemed to randomly alternate between staring off into space, doodling in their notebooks, or outright sleeping at their desks. Thankfully, Professor Goodwitch had noticed Yang sleeping during the Policies class and woken her up by loudly slapping her riding crop against the young woman's desk. Yang made sure to stay awake after that.

And then there was Sanguine. Just thinking about what she had seen made Weiss tighten her fists. The girl asked no questions, gave no answers at all, spent the entire class staring at the wall, and, like in Grimm Studies, didn't even bother to bring a notebook into class. It was like this rude and uncivilized girl did not care one iota about her education at all.

It made Weiss furious, but she was struggling to contain her temper. Maybe she could talk to Professor Goodwitch about her teammates later and hopefully get them straightened out.

General classes had ended for the day and the five were free for the rest of the day. They had eaten dinner already, again spending the time with JNPR and SCRT, and were left to their own devices before Ruby left for her leadership class.

When they arrived back at their dorm room, there was a cardboard box sitting on one of the desks with Yang's name on it. Her face split into a grin as she snapped it up and held it out to Sanguine.

"This is for you!" she said excitedly. Sanguine spent a moment just staring at the box before her before taking it in hand and opening it with her switchblade. A plastic shrink-wrapped bundle was also inside, and Sanguine slit that open as well. In spite of herself, Weiss found herself craning her head next to Ruby and Blake, trying to get a look at this new development while Yang just stood there and smiled, struggling to keep from laughing.

Sanguine shook out the bundle of cloth, which revealed itself to be a lavender t-shirt. Emblazoned on the front was a printed image of a small cartoon vampire, with a collared cape and everything, using a speech bubble to politely inform them that 'I vant to suck your blood'. Sanguine stared at it for a long moment before she glared at Yang, who had finally started laughing.

"Goddammit, Yang. I'm not a goddamn vampire!"

"Whatever you say! Hahahaha!" Yang barely managed to say.

"How did you even get this so quickly?" Sanguine asked, looking at the shirt again. Yang managed to get herself back under control and put her hands on her hips.

"The scrollnet is a strange and wonderful place, Sanguine. And I have Spartan Prime. I cannot be stopped." Sanguine just rolled her eyes but did toss the shirt on top of her still-packed knapsack.

After that, the members of Team RWBYS went about their own business. Ruby and Blake were both reading, though Weiss couldn't tell what the books were, Sanguine was lying on her hammock, and Yang was stretched out on her top bunk bed and looking through a magazine. Weiss rolled her eyes at her teammates before turning back to her history textbook. She was trying to fill in any holes in her notes brought about by Oobleck's blinding fast speech.

Her concentration was shattered by an incredibly annoying pop song suddenly playing throughout the room. Weiss turned over her shoulder to see Yang put down her magazine and pull her scroll out of her pocket before answering it.

"Ye'llo?" she said.

The answer was so loud the rest of the team had no problems hearing it.

" _OH! So you ARE still alive! I was beginning to wonder if your initiation had ended with you being put in a box or something! You were supposed to call me last night, Yang! I've been worried sick!_ "

By now, Yang was actually holding the scroll away from her head as she winced at such a loud retort. When the noise died down, she returned the scroll to her ear and gave an uncomfortable smile.

"H-hey, Lily. Um, I'm sorry about last night. I meant to call you, but we were so exhausted after the Initiation that we all went right to bed afterward. I mean, we were pretty wiped out after fighting that Nevermore and-"

" _A NEVERMORE?!"_ the girl on the other end almost shrieked. " _You fought a Nevermore yesterday?! What the hell were you thinking, doing something like that?! You could have been killed!_ "

"Well, the thing cornered me and the rest of my team, so we didn't have much of a choice. It's all over, though. No need to worry. Things were a little dicey at times, but we all came out okay."

At this point, Yang hopped down from her bed and walked out of the room to have her phone call with a bit of privacy. As soon as she was gone, Weiss, Blake, and Sanguine all looked at Ruby for an explanation. Ruby looked nervous at suddenly being the center of attention, but answered anyway.

"That's Lily. She's Yang's girlfriend back in Patch." Her eyes dropped to the floor. "She… wasn't a very big fan of Yang coming to Beacon." All three of them nodded in acceptance of that as Ruby glanced at her own scroll and her eyes widened. "Oh my gosh, I've gotta get to class!" With a burst of roses, Ruby was suddenly gone from the room.

A few minutes later, a significantly more haggard looking Yang returned to the dorm room and stretched out on her bed. She gave no details on her call and no one else in the room was inclined to ask her about it. Weiss shrugged her shoulders and went back to her studying.

After about an hour and a half, Weiss was finished with filling in the gaps in her notes and was reading ahead in her history textbook. Blake was still reading while Yang was attempting to entice Sanguine to play a video game with her, but Sanguine was not interested. Just then, the door clicked and Ruby walked back into the room, hanging her cloak on her suspended bed frame. Yang immediately moved her attention from Sanguine to Ruby and the two of them were soon playing Hard Fought Victory 2: Fight Even Harder.

"So, Ruby?" said Weiss, turning over her shoulder.

"Yeah, Weiss?" Ruby answered, not looking away from where she and Yang were controlling a buxom ninja with a staff and a spiky green monster, respectively.

"What did you talk about in your leadership class?

Ruby shrugged.

"Not much. Some stuff about communicating and tactics. It was pretty boring, actually. Yang! We said no fireballs!"

"Actually, little sis," Yang said with a smug smile, "y _ou_ said no fireballs."

"Those things are super cheap and you know it!"

"Look who's talking. Grandma could win with The Crimson Crane and _you_ know it."

"Crimson Crane is best ninja! I will allow no words against her magnificence!"

Through a great deal of effort, Weiss managed to turn off her ears enough that their competitive banter faded into white noise. She lowered her head into her hands and tried to not scream in frustration.

Ruby was a team leader who was too childish to even bother learning about how to be a team leader.

It had _definitely_ been a bad idea to come to Beacon.

* * *

 **AN: This was also the introduction of the OCs belonging to my good friend, Team SCRT (Scarlet). The first person to guess the team theme gets internet cookies.**

 **Another note is, for my version, Creatures of Grimm leave behind their bone masks when they die. This makes it easier for Hunters to collect trophies and collect bounties if they have something to bring back and prove the Grimm is dead.**


	9. The Second Day

**AN: Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend and a great summer. I've got another chapter of RWBYS here for you, where we meet some new new characters. Can you guys guess who each person is based on?**

 **As always, eternal thanks to my lovely beta, annbe11.**

 **With that, on with the show!**

* * *

 **Chapter 8 - The Second Day**

Once again, Team RWBYS had a hard time getting completely ready for the day. Yang and Weiss were almost dead on their feet from the moment the alarms went off and Ruby wasn't much better off. Blake, it seemed, could wake up almost instantly just like Sanguine, so it fell to them to begrudgingly handle the task of kick-starting their teammates and getting them out of the dorm. Once they were dressed and on their way, the job became a little easier, with Blake and Sanguine herding their teammates in the direction of the dining hall so they could let the wonders of caffeine finish their job for them.

After reaching the dining hall and getting some coffee in their systems, all members of Team RWBYS were finally awake enough to actually exchange 'good mornings'. Ruby and Yang got involved in a discussion about some fantasy TV show they liked, Blake was reading a book as she ate her cereal, and Weiss was putting a significant amount of effort into ignoring every single one of them. Sanguine was content to leave Weiss to her own devices, focusing instead on breakfast.

Gradually, the dining hall filled up as more and more students came to get breakfast. Team RWBYS was soon joined by JNPR and SCRT, with Ren having to practically carry a still snoring Nora until she woke up to devour the pancakes that had been set out in front of her. Greetings were exchanged and the Haze twins were quick to begin weaving tales from their upbringing in Vacuo, where they spent their days making mischief, including one time when they managed to dye every item of clothing that belonged to the headmaster of their Huntsman school. Many of those at the table were in stitches, especially Yang and Ruby. Eventually, the bell rang to inform them all to move to their classes. Since they were all going to the same place for their Environmental Conditioning lesson, they all left together.

After a few minutes of walking though various corridors, the three teams reached the room they had been looking for and Ruby, being the first to the door, opened it and lead them all inside. After only a few steps inside, they all froze and stared at the room before them.

"What in the hell…?" asked Sanguine. She received no answer.

The entire room was done up to resemble the middle of a deep forest glen. Springy moss and fallen leaves were liberally scattered across the floor, desktops, and seat cushions. The walls were painted with murals of trees and brush, with actual leaf-covered branches protruding from the walls above their heads. The leaves were so thick that they actually blocked out the overhead lights in a few places. Sanguine was shocked to find there were actually a few birds near the ceiling, twittering to one another as the flew back and forth between the branches. A few other teams were seated inside and every single student looked just as confused as they themselves were. There was a large table, looking as if it had been carved from a single tree, settled at the bottom tier of the room. On the surface of the table, there was a wooden T-shaped stand where a bright blue parrot perched, observing all of them.

Their new professor stood behind the desk, beaming at them all. She was wearing a grey dress that seemed quite threadbare and only fell down to just below her knees. A pair of black belts were wrapped around her waist and she had a worn leather vest over her dress. It was obvious that this vest had been repaired many times and Sanguine could see the shapes of armor plates woven into the garment. The woman also had long blond hair and light hazel eyes. She looked up at the three teams who had just entered and somehow managed to give them an even bigger smile.

"Ah, hello there!" she said, waving to them excitedly. "Please take your seats. We'll be starting soon. Do try not to sit on anyone."

RWBYS, JNPR, and SCRT moved down the stairs, trying not to slip on leaves. Only when they got closer to the empty desks did they see that there were a small number of insects moving back and forth between the leaf piles. Yang and Ruby both looked a little uncomfortable but nonetheless moved into a row of seats near the front. Blake maintained her look of disinterest as she followed them. Weiss froze, looking like she desperately wanted to make a break for the door. Sanguine just rolled her eyes.

"Keep moving, Princess," she said before shoving Weiss into the row. Weiss shot a searing glare back at her, but Sanguine just glared back.

All three teams took their seats, doing their best to sweep any stray leaves, moss, or insects off of their seats. Weiss actually looked like she would rather yank out her own teeth than spend time in this room, but she sat down all the same. Sanguine sat down without a care and placed her scroll on the desk in front of her. She'd slept comfortably in places dirtier than this before. When all students were accounted for, their teacher stepped out from behind her desk, revealing that she was barefoot.

"Greetings, students, and welcome to Environmental Conditioning," she said in a melodious voice. "My name is Professor Briar. I will be instructing you how to not only survive in the wilderness, but _thrive_." She giggled to herself and spun in place before she started moving about the room. Her movements were so… odd. It was almost like she was dancing down the aisle. "I apologize to all of you, but I find that I teach best when I can move about freely." The words were barely out of her mouth before Weiss's hand shot up into the air. "Yes, miss?"

"Professor Briar," said Weiss, "what purpose do all of the… _animals_ serve?" Professor Briar let out a light laugh.

"It grants a bit of authenticity to the lesson, I understand. Besides, they are simply delightful, don't you think?" She closed her eyes and sang. "Ah~ah~ah~ah~ahhhh~"

An instant of silence passed before all of the birds overhead repeated the five notes. The entire class blinked in unison while Professor Briar simply smiled and continued moving about the room. "Now then," she continued, "let us get started by introducing ourselves. We'll start from the back and each of you will tell us your name and one thing you really like."

So it went like that, with each student introducing themselves in such a manner. Sanguine didn't pay any attention to it all until the introductions reached her row.

"Um…" her leader said, looking suddenly uncomfortable at suddenly being the center of attention. "M-my name is Ruby Rose, and I really like working on my sniper scythe, Crescent Rose."

"The name's Yang Xiao Long," said Yang, looking much more comfortable with the attention than her sister did, "and I like cruising around on my motorcycle Bumblebee."

"My name is Blake Belladona, and I enjoy silent reading."

"I am Weiss Schnee," said Weiss, looking around the room in disgust, "and I enjoy a _sterile_ learning environment."

By now, Professor Briar had made her way all around the room and had come back to the front. She turned to Sanguine, the last person to introduce themselves, and smiled expectantly. Sanguine sighed.

"My name is Sanguine, just Sanguine, and I like having three meals a day."

"Oh!" Professor Briar said, leaning forward in sudden excitement. " _You're_ Sanguine? We all had a staff meeting about you yesterday."

Sanguine kept her expression blank, despite the fact that she could feel the gazes of the entire class on her. She leaned back and crossed her arms.

"I hope it was informative, then," she said. Professor Briar just nodded before going back to swanning about the room.

"We will start the course by covering the basics, including finding food and water, creating shelters, signaling help, and making usable tools from your environment."

At that moment, Professor Briar was heading toward the back of the room, with her back facing the majority of the students. Out of the corner of her eye, Sanguine saw a large, brown-haired, muscle-bound boy flick an eraser at the back of Jaune's head, making him give a small yelp of alarm.

"Mr. Winchester," Professor Briar said, coming to a stop, but not turning around, "I'd ask you to refrain from bothering Mr. Arc and to stop disrupting my class." Her voice still sounded like a melody, even when she was scolding somebody.

"What?" the boy said. "I didn't even do anything."

"You very clearly flicked an eraser at the back of his head," said Professor Briar, speaking as if she were talking to a five-year-old. "Any further disruptions will result in disciplinary action." Winchester blinked in surprise before he gave the teacher's back a scathing glare. Professor Briar giggled. "Mr. Winchester, don't look at me in that tone of voice."

The class froze. Winchester had an expression like a gasping fish as his mouth opened and closed over and over again.

"You… you aren't even looking at me."

Professor Briar giggled again.

"But The Godfeather is," she said. The parrot on her desk suddenly squawked, calling attention to himself. "Quite right, The Godfeather," Professor Briar said, almost like she were having a conversation with him. Only then did she turn to face Winchester. "Every creature around me acts as my eyes and ears. The Godfeather, the birds above us, the flies on the wall, and even that caterpillar crawling on Ms. Xiao Long's shoulder."

"AHH! GROSS!" shrieked Yang, furiously trying to brush any insects off of her shoulders. Professor Briar only gave a smile to Winchester before looking back at the parrot.

"What should be done about Mr. Winchester, The Godfeather?"

" _Rawk!_ Detention! Detention! _Rawk!_ " squawked the bird.

"I agree, The Godfeather. Mr. Winchester, you will be staying with us after class." The boy glared at his desk as Professor Briar returned to dancing about the room. "Now then, class, we will begin discussing how to tell if a leafy plant is edible. The general rule of thumb is this: 'If leaves it has three, leave it be; if berries white, take flight'. Moving into specifics, however…"

* * *

After Environmental Conditioning, all of the first year students passed through the locker rooms on their way to sparring practice in order to change into their combat outfits. When everyone was seated in the bleachers above the ring, their teacher stepped out to address them.

"Alright, kiddies, give me your ears," said Coach Cobalt as he tapped a few buttons on his scroll before putting it away. He was a tall man with salt-and-pepper hair concealed by a blue baseball cap. He was dressed in a track jacket and running shorts, as well as socks that reached up almost to his knees. Apparently he and Professor Goodwitch split the duties of running the sparring class.

"Now then," he said once he had the practice room's attention, "In every class, there are a few students or, as I like to refer to them, 'whiner babies', who see fit to question my statements as referee." He clasped his hands behind his back and began pacing before them. " As such, let's get one thing straight: my word is law. My judgment is final. If I say you fight, you fight. If I say you're dead, you're dead. And more than anything…" he said, seeming to stare down the entire class at once, "there will Be. No. Whiner babies. Are we clear?" There were scattered murmurs from the students. Coach Cobalt sighed and rolled his eyes. "I said," he drawled, "are we CLEAR?!"

Suddenly, it was as if the entire training room shook and his words had physical force behind them. Every student there, Sanguine included, clapped their hands over their ears at the sudden vocal assault. When the noise had died down, every person gave a very strong 'yes, coach'.

"That's what I like to hear," he said with a nod. He pulled out his scroll again and pressed a few buttons. "Let's see who's first. Okay then. Turk! Cinna! Front and center! You're going first."

Sanguine settled back as she watched the two students, a boy wielding twin Dust revolvers that turned into swords and a girl using dual bladed whips, did their best to gently eliminate one another. It was a close battle for much of the time, but Cinna was eventually named the victor and her team cheered for her while her opponent limped off to lick his wounds. Coach Cobalt looked down at his scroll again before he did a double take and looked up toward Team JNPR.

"Jaune Arc?" he asked. Jaune snapped upright when he heard his name get called. "You Jacen Arc's kid?"

"Um, uh, yes sir," Jaune said, scratching the back of his neck in discomfort.

"HA!" barked Cobalt. "I fought alongside your dad back in the day. He was a hell of a fighter. How's he doing these days?"

"Um… he's… good. I mean, he's just hanging around, doing his thing, like… y'know…"

The class just stared at Jaune while Weiss looked like she was beginning to suffer from a migraine.

"Well then," said Cobalt, flicking through the class roster, "let's find you an opponent so you can show us what you got." Another moment passed before Cobalt smirked and looked up.

Right at RWBYS.

"Sanguine, you're up. Let's go."

Sanguine gave a stiff nod and stood up to head down into the ring.

"You got this San!" cheered Yang, pumping her fist in the air.

"Fight well," Blake said with a small smile.

"Show them all what Team RWBYS is made of!" shouted Ruby, bouncing up and down in her seat.

"Just don't mess up," groaned Weiss, crossing her arms.

Sanguine made it down to the ring and stood across from Jaune, who was holding his sword and shield in trembling hands. She pulled Obsidian from the holster on her back and swung it outward to unsheathe the sickle blade with a loud SHING! Now it looked like Jaune's whole body is trembling.

"Alright, you two. I'm gonna go over the rules again," said Coach Cobalt. "This fight lasts until your Aura is in the red or you surrender. No intentional maiming if you can avoid it. The fight stops when I say it stops. Clear?" Sanguine and Jaune nodded. "Groovy. You may begin… now!"

As soon as the word was out of his mouth, Sanguine charged. Her torso was bent forward, letting her keep a small profile and giving her the least amount of air resistance. Jaune's eyes widened as she rapidly gained on him and he held his shield defensively out in front of him. Sanguine made the snap decision to put that barrier to the test and swung her blade at it in an upward diagonal cut. There was a clash of metal as the sword and shield met. She was surprised when Jaune almost fell over from that as the force sent him stumbling backwards and his arms pinwheeled to try and regain balance.

Her opponent was off balance. This was the moment she needed. The sword came at her in a desperate slash, which she parried. That put him even more off balance. Before he could gain a strong stance again, Sanguine grabbed him by the shoulder and swung her right leg upward, kicking him between his legs. All of his breath left him in a high squeak as he almost bent over double. There were hisses of pain from all around her, but she paid them no mind. Her opponent was the only thing that mattered right now.

Her opponent held his weapon in a loose grip, giving Sanguine the perfect opportunity. Her blade swung again at his sword, this time knocking it from his grasp. Her free hand seized a fistful of his hair and she spun, pivoting on her foot and dropping to one knee as she slammed his face into the floor beneath them. There were more hisses of pain from above her.

Her opponent was already beginning to stir. That wasn't right. He should be out by now.

No matter. Sanguine stood to her full height and raised Obsidian above her head before bringing it down toward his neck. One good chop would end this fight for-

"STOP!" said a voice from above. Obsidian's blade froze an inch away from her opponent's neck. Sanguine blinked a few times as her vision cleared. She took in the training room around her, the spectators above her, and Jaune sprawled beneath her. Sanguine took a deep breath to center herself.

She remembered where she was.

She remembered what she was doing.

The high-pitched cry had come from Ruby and Sanguine saw both her leader and Pyrrha standing up with their hands on the railing, looking down on her with fear.

Sanguine glanced down at Jaune, who was trying to push himself up, before she took a breath and moved her sword away.

"Get up, Arc!" snapped Coach Cobalt. "Show her what you're made of!"

"O… kay… Coach…" Jaune gasped as he struggled to his knees.

Sanguine shook her head in bewilderment as she walked to Jaune's sword and kicked it to the other side of the arena.

"Give it up, Jaune," she said, leaning her sword against her shoulder. "You're done."

"I can't…" he panted as he managed to stand up, his whole body trembling. "I can't just give up."

Sanguine narrowed her eyes and glanced at the displays of their Aura displays. She was surprised to see that Jaune still had two-thirds of his Aura left.

Jaune finally managed to stand up straight and he held his shield out toward Sanguine. With a high-pitched battle cry, he charged forward, holding his shield out like a battering ram. The move was so obvious that Sanguine could have seen it coming from the moon. She waited until he was almost on her before stepping to the side and holding her sword low. Just as she had planned, the hook of her blade snagged onto Jaune's boot and sent him sprawling to the ground. As soon as he was down, Sanguine retracted Obsidian's blade and pounced. She pressed her knee into the small of his back while using her free hand to wrench his right arm behind his back. Her right hand held Obsidian by the barrel and she pressed the entire length of her shotgun into Jaune's upper back, keeping his shoulders pinned to the floor. Jaune wiggled and bucked in an attempt to throw her off, but she held on and stayed where she was.

"Give up," she said, wrenching his arm a few degrees further. He cried out but kept struggling to escape. His other arm tried to strike her, but it was still attached to the shield and therefore had less movement.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried from the stands. "Tap out! You can't fight like that!"

"I can do this!" Jaune shouted before he cried out in pain as Sanguine wrenched his arm a little higher.

"Jaune! Please!" Pyrrha cried again. A few seconds passed as Jaune just gasped for breath.

Finally, Jaune's shield hand slapped twice against the mat. Sanguine immediately let him go and took a few steps back, leaving him lying on the floor. Behind her, she heard Coach Cobalt sigh.

"Not good, Arc," he said. "Not good at all."

"I'm… I'm sorry," Jaune said, staring at the mat beneath him. "I'll get better."

"You will," the coach grumbled. "I'll make sure of it."

* * *

"Are you sure you needed to be that rough with him?" Ruby asked as Team RWBYS walked into the lunch line of the cafeteria.

"I took him down as quickly and efficiently as possible," Sanguine said, crossing her arms and meeting Ruby's gaze. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"Um, you kinda had a sword at his neck, San," Yang supplied, looking a little uncomfortable.

"I would never have hurt him. I was totally in control," said Sanguine, lying through her teeth. She averted her eyes from her teammates and collected a roll, vegetables, and a bowl of creamy pasta with meatballs. She also grabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza on her way out of the line. She walked toward the table they usually ate at, where Team SCRT was already…

In the middle of a tea party?

"Care for a scone, Shirley?" Rosa asked, placing her tiny teacup down on its saucer.

"Yes. A blueberry one, please," Shirley said, holding out a tiny plate to her teammate. Rosa waved her hand, causing a berry-filled pastry to rise from a dish of similar ones and float down onto Shirley's plate. As she did so, Theo leaned forward with a steaming pot and refilled Rosa's teacup.

"Thank you, Theodore," she said with a smile as she added cream and sugar before taking a sip.

By then, the rest of Team RWBYS had arrived and they all just stood there, staring at their classmates in confused silence. Eventually, Team SCRT realized they had an audience and turned to face them, looking curious.

"What's the problem?" Chase asked, popping a scone in his mouth before taking a sip of tea.

"Where did all of this come from?" asked Weiss. "Where in the world did you get a fine china tea set? I've been stuck with all this horrible plastic!"

"Brought it from home," Rosa said with a grin.

"When did you have time to actually make tea?" asked Blake, blinking in confusion. "We _just_ got out of Sparring." She paused. "Also, can I have some?"

"That's a silly question," Rosa said with a smile. "Of course you can. Theodore?"

Theo smiled at Blake before lifting his hat, revealing another teacup and saucer perfectly balanced on the crown of his head. He gently removed it and poured more of the steaming tea into it before offering it to a confused, yet very grateful Blake.

"Okay, I'm too hungry to dwell on this," Sanguine said, shaking her head as she sat down and began devouring her pasta. The rest of her teammates followed her example and started eating. Not long after that, Team JNPR also arrived and started eating their own lunches. Nora ate hers with almost the same reckless abandon as Ruby did while Ren and Pyrrha ate theirs at a more sedate pace. Jaune, on the other hand, was only picking at his food, seeming more interested in just moving it around his plate.

Sanguine just shrugged and went back to her own meal, but eventually felt the sensation that she was being watched. She glanced up to see Ruby, Pyrrha, and Yang staring at her. She finished chewing her mouthful and returned their stare.

"What?" she finally asked. The three other girls glanced between each other before they leaned closer over the table.

"Give Jaune some positive feedback," Ruby whispered.

"What do you mean?" asked Sanguine, keeping her voice low.

"Give him a compliment or something," whispered Yang. Sanguine looked at her curiously.

"Why?"

"He looks like he's taking this really hard," Pyrrha said. "He really wants to do well here, and if you can give him a compliment about your fight, it would help him. Maybe compliment his footing, or his stance, or his technique. Just something he did well."

"I don't see how that's my problem," grumbled Sanguine as she stabbed her fork into another meatball.

"Please, Sanguine?" said Ruby, staring at her with pleading eyes. "He's your friend."

"He's _your_ friend," Sanguine corrected, brandishing her meatball-laden fork in Ruby's direction.

"Fine. He's my friend," huffed Ruby. "Then can you please do a favor for me and tell him he did something well?"

Sanguine looked back and forth between the three of them and sighed.

"Fine," she said. She looked over at Jaune, who was still glumly staring at his food. "Hey, Jaune," she said, loud enough for him to hear. He started before looking down the table in her direction.

"Um… what's up, Sanguine?" he asked.

Sanguine opened her mouth but hesitated. What was she supposed to say? She remembered how he performed in the fight. His stance was shit. His technique was shit. His grip on his weapon was also shit. What was there left to say?

Sanguine realized her silence was dragging on for too long as Jaune, Pyrrha, Ruby, and Yang kept on staring at her.

"You… you picked a good time to tap out," she said, giving Jaune a nod. "It was a good call."

 _Smack!_

Everyone looked up at the sound of three girls slapping their foreheads at once.

"Um… thanks…" muttered Jaune before going back to playing with his food. Sanguine looked at the other girls. All of them had pained expressions on their faces.

"What?" Sanguine asked. "You said something positive. That was positive."

"No, San," said Yang. "Just… no."

"She's right, you know," said Weiss from where she was filing her nails, drawing everyone's attention. "If Jaune had been in a real fight, he probably would have died within the first ten seconds. He has absolutely no understanding of how to carry himself in battle."

Jaune now looked like he was thinking about jumping into his pasta as a way to hide from this conversation.

"That's not true," said Pyrrha, quickly leaping to her partner's defense. "I can tell that Jaune is filled with potential. I mean, did you see how much Aura he has? I'm sure his Semblance is something amazing as well."

Jaune blinked and looked up at Pyrrha in confusion.

"Pyrrha," he said, "what's a 'semblance'?"

 _SMACK_!

Everyone at the table besides the two of them slapped their foreheads.

* * *

RWBYS, JNPR, and SCRT all sat in the Dust Lab, staring around at the various contraptions. Everything about the room was a soulless, sterile white, almost like the few hospitals Sanguine had seen in her lifetime. The large lab was filled with small desk stations in the central area of the room, while countless cupboards and sinks lined the walls of the room. A message on the board had told them to break up into partner pairs and wait for the teacher to arrive. Sanguine had stolen a spare stool from against the wall and set herself up next to Blake and Yang. Ruby and Weiss were set up at the station immediately next to theirs. Every student in the room fidgeted uncomfortably, glancing at the clock as it ticked closer and closer to the start of class.

The moment the clock hit the hour, the door to the classroom suddenly opened and a man in a lab coat strode in. He had a thin, wiry frame with skeletal looking fingers and sallow skin, as well as greasy black hair, piercing eyes, a hooked nose, a black mustache, and a dark goatee hanging from his chin. When he reached the front of the room, he somehow managed to glare at every student at once.

"I want to start this class off with an important statement you must take to heart while in this class: I _demand_ constant attention and vigilance. There are very few students who will display a talent for using such a volatile substance as Dust, but each and every one of you will make certain you are at least knowledgeable on how to use it. As such, I will not tolerate any student losing focus. If I see any hint of a student using a scroll, sleeping during class, or if I even _think_ you might be allowing your mind to wander, you and your entire team will receive detention. Am I clear?"

" _Yes, professor,_ " the class said as one. He nodded, but still glared at all of the students. Sanguine decided that she really didn't like this professor. He reminded her too much of various unpleasant people she had met in recent years.

"We shall see," he muttered. "Anyway, I am Professor Selverus Qodra. You will refer to me as Professor Qodra or Sir. With that, we will begin." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a remote, which he clicked. A holographic screen came into existence at the front of the room, filled with instructions and diagrams. "The objective of the first day is to create a unit of Volcano Dust. You will make sure you are wearing appropriate eyewear and gloves and you will follow every instruction to the letter. All teams will share a grade calculated from the average of both partner pairs. There will be no mercy if any of you dunderheads mess up. You may begin."

As soon as he finished speaking, Weiss's hand shot up into the air. Professor Qodra rolled his eyes for a moment before focusing on her.

"Yes, Miss Schnee?"

"Professor, the instructions are wrong," Weiss said, ignoring the intake of breath from the entire class. "You tell us to first add Burn Dust and allow it to warm before adding Earth Dust. The proper way is to start with Earth Dust and let it soften with water."

For a few long moments, there was nothing but silence. Professor Qodra merely stood there and glared at Weiss, not even moving a muscle.

"Well, students," Qodra drawled, sarcasm practically dripping from his voice, "it seems that Miss Schnee has attained a Dust Mastery certification at the mere age of seventeen. That is the only possible reason I can imagine that would explain why she would speak out of turn in such a way." Weiss let out a small offended sound.

"Professor, I'm merely trying to tell you that the proper way of-"

In a blur of motion, Professor Qodra stood directly in front of Weiss with his hands slamming down against the workstation she shared with Ruby.

"Silence!" snapped Qodra, his face contorted into a thunderous scowl. Weiss's mouth shut with an audible click as she reeled back, almost falling over backward.

Sanguine gasped in shock. She hadn't seen him move. He had somehow managed to cover fifteen feet in the time it took her to blink.

"Do you think," Qodra snarled, "that just because you come from a family of self-important Dust peddlers that you have the authority to correct me in my own classroom?" He glared down at her with blazing eyes. "If you wish to have a hope of passing my class, I'd advise you to avoid any attempts at being an insufferable know-it-all."

Weiss was left gaping like a fish before she glared at the professor.

"How dare y-"

"One more syllable, Miss Schnee, and both you and your entire team will be in detention for the remainder of your time at Beacon. Am I understood?" Weiss looked like she wanted to argue further, but she just lowered her eyes and nodded. "Excellent," he drawled, straightening up. He looked around the room with a look of disgust. "Well? Get started."

The students made their way to specified cupboards around the room, where they donned plastic glasses and rubber gloves before they returned to their stations and got started. Blake took command of their little group as she started mixing beakers of the powdered crystals, alternating asking Yang or Sanguine to grab or hold something for them.

About five minutes into the procedure, Sanguine heard a whispered argument come from Ruby and Weiss and turned to give them more attention.

"Weiss, this isn't part of the instructions," hissed Ruby as Weiss was busy stirring a beaker of… Earth Dust?

"The instructions are wrong, then," Weiss hissed back.

"You're gonna get us in trouble!"

"The only 'trouble' will be when everyone else isn't able to do it correctly," Weiss snapped. Her stirring began to pick up speed, clinking against the edges of her beaker. She placed the beaker of Earth Dust on the counter and reached for another beaker of Burn Dust.

"You're gonna make the teacher mad! Give that to me!" Ruby lunged for the beaker. The two of them started grappling over the beaker. Sanguine's eyes widened as she started batting at Yang's shoulder. Yang looked up.

"What's wrong, San?" Before Sanguine could give an answer, Yang heard Ruby and Weiss struggling and looked in their direction. Her eyes became the size of dinner plates. "What are you doing?!" she shouted.

Ruby and Weiss both jerked in surprise and separated. Unfortunately, in the burst of motion, the beaker popped out of their hands and was flung into the air. Then, in defiance of gods and men and all things holy, it landed in the pair's other beaker, dumping its load atop the Earth Dust. The premature mixture began to glow.

"Uh oh…" squeaked Ruby.

"GET DOWN!" shouted Sanguine, grabbing her two partners and pulling them to the floor with her. Sanguine saw Yang pounce atop Blake to cover her moments before Sanguine covered her own head.

Not a moment too soon.

 _BOOM!_

* * *

 **And that's where we'll leave things off for today. I'm sorry that I didn't get too many chapters out this summer. I had a really bad case of writer's block for much of it. And now here I am, the weekend before I got back to school. Oh bother...**

 **Anway, I hope you liked it and that you'll enjoy what I have in store for Team RWBYS next.**


	10. Headmaster's Office

**AN: Hello everyone! YES! I managed to update all three stories before November! WOOHOO!**

 **If you haven't seen in my other stories, I'll be doing NaNoWriMo this year, so no updates next month. Sorry for abandoning you, but I'll be back in December with more content. Hope you guys like this chapter.**

 **As always, eternal thanks to my lovely beta, annbe11. (BTW, she's writing a really good Tiger's Curse fanfic called Tiger's Circus. If you're a fan of that series, definitely give it a look.)**

 **Chapter 9 - Headmaster's Office**

 _BOOM!_

The pressure wave of the Dust explosion slammed into Sanguine, making her ears ring from the impact. Pieces of lab counter scattered across the room. Some pieces were on fire. The ceilings shook, letting a shower of plaster fall upon the students.

When all of the motion finally stopped and the ringing in her ears had died down to a dull roar, Sanguine uncovered her head and looked around. The counter Ruby and Weiss had been working on was a strange combination of shattered and melted, but the stations around it were only blackened with soot. Many of the nearby students had managed to take cover before the explosion occurred and were shakily standing up. Sanguine sat up, moving slowly to check for any injuries. To her surprise, she was unharmed and only covered with dust and soot. She turned to where Yang was still covering Blake. Yang cracked an eye open.

"You okay, San?" Yang asked. Sanguine nodded. Yang turned her attention to her other partner. "Are you okay, Blake? Anything hurt?"

"I'm fine," came Blake's muffled response.

"Good to hear," Yang said, relaxing.

"Um…Yang?" said Blake after a moment of pause.

"Yeah?"

"You can get off me now."

"Oh! Right." Yang pushed herself off of Blake and letting her rise. Suddenly, she snapped up straight. "Ruby!" she cried as she scrambled to her feet and began searching for her sister. Sanguine and Blake both rose to join her.

Thankfully, Ruby and Weiss were able to jump over the counter behind them before their mixture exploded. Unfortunately, both of them were covered with soot and tangled up with Jaune and Pyrrha. Pyrrha was pulling Ruby to her feet while Weiss was slapping away Jaune's efforts to help her. The second that Ruby stood upright, Yang was there to sweep her off her feet in a bone-crushing hug and then began checking her over for injuries.

"Well now…" came an unpleasant drawl from behind them. Professor Qodra stood behind them, his eyes looking ready to burst into flames. The members of RWBYS shifted uncomfortably.

 _This should be fun_ , thought Sanguine.

line

Blake, Yang, and Sanguine sat against the wall of the Beacon Tower lobby. Their entire team had received a verbal beating from Professor Qodra, and Sanguine was quite certain they were about to get another one as soon as their Dust Use professor finished up his talk with Ozpin up in the headmaster's office. Weiss and Ruby had been sent to the Nurse's Office to get checked up before they would join them here.

"Well," said Yang, clasping her hands behind her neck, "I always did like to start my school years off with a _bang_." She gave a toothy grin to both Blake and Sanguine. "Get it?"

Blake shot her down with a glare while Sanguine just kept staring forward, clenching and unclenching her hands as they rested on her knees. Professor Qodra had been in Ozpin's office for over twenty minutes, and Sanguine was starting to get anxious. What was going to happen? She was already on probation as it was.

 _Am I going to be homeless again?_ She wondered to herself.

The door to the lobby opened, admitting a fuming Weiss and a depressed Ruby. Ruby gave the three of them a small wave while Weiss just marched right past them and called the elevator. Their clothes still looked a little burnt, but they both appeared alright.

"Hey guys," said Ruby as her teammates stood and joined them, "I think that Professor Peach, the nurse, might be a little crazy. When she finished checking us out, she tried to get us to help her test out a bunch of chemicals in her syringes. We had to make a break for it when she turned her back. Right, Weiss?"

"Don't talk to me, dolt!" Weiss snapped. Ruby flinched before staring at the floor. Yang glared at Weiss, but said nothing.

The team remained silent until the elevator door opened, allowing them to squeeze inside and rise toward Ozpin's office. When the door opened again, they found themselves in a large room surrounded by immense windows and with giant clockwork gears turning overhead. Ozpin was seated at his desk while Professor Qodra stood before him. The Dust instructor sneered at them as they entered while Ozpin gave them a friendly nod.

"Thank you for your input, Selvarus," said Ozpin after he took a sip of coffee. "Would you please let me talk to these girls alone?"

"Of course, Headmaster," Qodra said with a nod before he made his way to the elevator, swishing his coat as he went. As the elevator door closed, the only sound in the office was from the gears overhead.

 _Slurp_.

And the sound of Ozpin drinking his coffee.

"I must say that I am a little impressed," said Ozpin as the five members of RWBYS stood before his desk. "Blowing up a Dust lab on only your second day due to petty squabbling is a very remarkable feat."

"Squabbling?!" demanded Weiss, looking affronted. "I was performing the correct procedure! It's not my fault that this child tried to-"

"Miss Schnee," Ozpin interrupted, "it is indeed your fault." His eyes panned over them all. "The fault rests with every single one of you. As a team, you are expected to work together, to succeed together, and, if it comes to it, fail together. We have Huntsmen and Huntresses in teams because they share a great burden in defending humanity, so they are expected to shoulder it as a group." He stopped to take a sip of coffee. "Teams do not turn their backs on one another, they do not fight among themselves, and they certainly do not stand by and watch while their other members squabble over samples of the most volatile substance known to man." He turned a critical eye toward Yang, Blake, and Sanguine. "The events of the day will, of course, result in disciplinary action."

All five members of Team RWBYS swallowed.

"Are…" said Ruby. "Are you going to ex… _expel_ us?"

To their shock, Ozpin actually gave her a small smile.

"Certainly not, Miss Rose. If I expelled teams every time someone made a Dust explosion, this school would be a great deal emptier." The five girls relaxed. "However," he said, making them tense up again, "you will all need to perform community service to work off the cost of damages to the Dust lab."

"Professor Ozpin," said Weiss, "I can assure you that will not be necessary and that I will gladly pay for any necessary-"

"This is not a question of material cost, Miss Schnee," he interrupted. "This is a question of both your collective attitude and your ability to work as a team." He took another slurp of coffee before leaning back in his chair. "Miss Rose?"

Ruby flinched.

"Y-yes sir?"

"What would say is the duty of a Huntress?"

Ruby began wringing her hands while staring at Ozpin's desk.

"To… to fight the Grimm," she said.

"Hmmm," responded Ozpin. "And the rest of you? Do you say the same?"

After a moment, they all nodded their heads. Ozpin sighed.

"Unfortunately, that is incorrect," he said, placing his coffee mug on the desk and lacing his fingers together. "Remnant is an incredibly dangerous world to live in, and in the face of danger, our darkest emotions easily reveal themselves. Fear. Anger. Blame. Hatred. Despair. And it is these precise emotions that bring the Creatures of Grimm clawing at our realm's walls. How do you think we prevent this kind of crisis from happening, Ms. Xiao Long?"

Yang jolted to attention, surprised at being called.

"Um… well… I think…" she gave a pained smile. "Motivational speeches?"

Blake and Ruby sighed while Weiss scowled at her. Sanguine just kept her eyes on Ozpin, who shook his head and smirked.

"Huntsmen and Huntresses," he began. "In the eyes of the kingdoms' citizens, going about their lives as if the Grimm don't exist, Huntsmen and Huntresses are their guardians. They bear the burdens of our world so ordinary folk never have to. It is this mutual trust and respect, along with our ingenuity, that allows mankind… and Faunus… to stand united against the Grimm. We must be the symbol of cooperation and a bulwark of defense so that they may all live their lives to the fullest."

"And how," interrupted Weiss, "is that goal accomplished when you name an immature child as leader of a team?"

"You got something to say about my sister?" said Yang, rounding on Weiss while curling her hands into fists.

"Yang, please don't," Ruby begged weakly.

"Yes," answered Weiss. "This is all an enormous mistake. Your sister is not qualified to run a _bath_ , let alone a team of Huntresses. She is immature, idiotic, and frankly, you're no better than her!"

Yang's eyes turned red as she took a threatening step closer to Weiss, cracking her knuckles as she did so. For all of her earlier insults, Weiss suddenly looked a great deal less confident.

"Go ahead, Ice Queen," Yang snarled. "Keep digging that hole you're in." She took another step forward, heedless of Ruby's attempts to pull her away as Blake took a big step away from Yang and Sanguine simply stood there and watched.

All five of them jumped when Ozpin slapped his palm down on his desk, reclaiming their attention.

"This is exactly what I was talking about," he said coldly. "If any of you hope to have a chance of completing your education here, you will need to work past your differences and learn to work as a team." With another sigh, he leaned back in his chair. "Details of your community service will be worked out soon. For now, consider yourselves on notice. If the instructors bring word to me of more fights or squabbles between you, stricter punishments will be given. You are dismissed."

The members of Team RWBYS made their way to the elevator in dejected silence, but Ruby hesitated on the threshold.

"You guys go ahead," she murmured. "I'll catch up."

Yang looked like she wanted to say something, but just nodded before she pressed the button, closing the elevator doors and leaving Ruby alone with Ozpin.

"Is there something you wanted to discuss, Miss Rose?" Ozpin asked before sipping form his coffee. Ruby shuffled closer to his desk, her eyes locked on the floor.

"Yes, Professor," Ruby said quietly. "Did…" She stopped to take a breath. "Did you make a mistake? Naming me team leader?"

"That remains to be seen," said Ozpin, standing from his chair and walking around his desk. Ruby looked up to meet his eyes. "It's only been two days. We at Beacon do not expect all of our students to perform exemplary right from the start." His eyes softened as he looked down at her. "Miss Rose… Ruby, in my life I have made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet." He smiled and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "At this moment, however, I would not consider your appointment as leader to be one of them. Would you?"

"U-um…" stuttered Ruby. "No?"

"Good. I believe you have what it takes to carry yourself as a leader and to inspire others to follow you into danger. It will be hard work and there may be some stumbles along the way, but I believe in you, Ruby." He gave her shoulder a pat before moving to sit at his desk again. "I'd advise you to take some time to think about how you will carry out your responsibility. I hope the rest of your day goes well."

Ruby nodded, a small hopeful smile on her face as she called an elevator and headed for the ground floor.

line

Their meeting with the principal had left them out of class for much of the next period. Since the last class of the day had only a few minutes remaining, the members of Team RWBYS just gravitated to the dining hall to be the first ones in the dinner line.

Sanguine thought that Weiss would be the kind of person that would rather die than miss class, but the heiress only silently glared at her floor tiles, as if they offended her purely by existing within her field of view.

The main course of the day was tuna steaks. While Ruby and Yang filled their trays, Blake was piling her tray with as many tuna steaks as the scowling dining hall worker would allow, Weiss was only grabbing a salad, and Sanguine was piling her tray with a bit of everything that was available. She had never even _seen_ some of these foods before, and she wanted to try as much of it as she could.

 _Definitely an upside to coming to Beacon,_ she thought to herself.

The members of Team RWBYS set their trays down at the table they had occupied for breakfast and lunch that day. When Sanguine sat down, she noticed that Weiss was still standing, glaring at them all with an icy gaze.

"I just want you to know," she almost growled, "that I will not allow myself to be dragged down by any of your performances. I came here to be the best, and you had better not think I'll tolerate your brutish or idiotic behaviors." Ruby lowered her head in embarrassment while the others scowled at Weiss.

"That's an interesting thing to say, Princess," said Sanguine, stabbing her knife down into her tuna steak, "considering that talk was entirely your fault."

Weiss just glared harder at Sanguine before turning on her heel and moving to the other side of the room.

"I don't like that one too much," said Yang, chewing her food with a little more force than necessary.

"I'm honestly not surprised at her behavior," Blake said with a nod. "She's from Atlas, one of the most closed-minded places on the planet. And she's a Schnee on top of everything." Blake turned back to her small mountain of fish. "I don't think we'll be seeing much cooperation from her side of things. Probably for the best, actually."

"Dang," said Yang. "That's cold, Blake." She suddenly smiled. "You could say it was even… _Weiss_ cold, am I right?"

"Goddammit, Yang," Sanguine and Blake said at the same time. Ruby just kept picking at her food.

As the last class of the day ended, students began trickling into the dining hall. Soon the entire hall was buzzing with conversation from hundreds of students. JNPR set their trays down next to the remaining members of RWBYS.

"Team SCRT isn't coming to dinner," said Pyrrha. "They said they were going to have a tea party in their dorm."

"That's… a little weird, but okay," said Yang. "What did we miss in class?"

"Just Port rambling on and on and on about his old stories," groaned Nora, who looked like she was a few moments from falling asleep. "I don't even get it. What does a flock of tiny Nevermores and a giant butterfly net have to do with how to cut off a Beowolf's head?" Nora groaned again before slumping forward onto the table, with Ren pushing her food tray out of the way of her face without even looking.

"The whole class was talking about what you guys did in Dust class, though," said Jaune, looking to be in higher spirits now that the sparring match was further in the past. "What happened? Did you guys get expelled?"

"Fortunately, no," said Blake, carving into her third tuna steak. "We do have to do some community service."

"It's supposed to bring us closer as a team," added Sanguine. "The Princess doesn't seem to agree, though."

The members of JNPR, not counting Nora who was beginning to snore, blinked and suddenly realized that Weiss wasn't at the table.

"I should, um, probably go look for her," Jaune immediately said, standing up and walking away from the table. Pyrrha looked like she was about to say something before stopping herself and returning to her meal. Sanguine just shrugged as she swapped Jaune's full tray with her empty one and continued eating. The others made small talk that Sanguine didn't acknowledge or even really care about.

Everyone at the table fell silent, however, when Professor Goodwitch walked up to their group, her heels clicking against the tiles as she went. Students went absolutely quiet as she passed, scared at drawing her attention.

"Miss Sanguine," Goodwitch said, not looking pleased, "may I speak with you for a moment?"

Sanguine finished her sip of water before standing and following the professor to the side of the dining hall where they could talk away from prying ears.

"Professor Ozpin wanted me to inform you that your first lesson will be tomorrow evening at seven o'clock. Please meet the instructor on the second floor of the library."

Sanguine nodded, but scowled slightly.

"He could have told me when we were in his office," she muttered.

"I said the same thing myself," Goodwitch said with a nod. "By the way, where is Miss Schnee?"

"Wandered off. She didn't want to eat with us."

"Hmm," said Goodwitch. "This is not a good start." With that, she turned and left the dining hall while Sanguine returned to her seat.

"What did Goodwitch want?" asked Yang. All of the others at the table were looking at her expectantly.

Sanguine seemed to curl up and hunch over the food in front of her as she lowered her fork.

"Nothing that concerns you," she said simply before continuing to eat.

"Um," said Ruby, "are you sure that-"

" _Yes_ , Ruby," Sanguine snapped, making the girl flinch. "I am _quite_ certain it does not concern you at all. Now please leave me alone."

"Well, since you said please," muttered Yang as everyone went back to their dinner. Sanguine stared at the table and let out a long breath.

 _This is going to be a long semester,_ she thought.


	11. Babysitters

**AN: Hello everyone. Man, my first attempt at 3 uploads every quarter and I already blew it. Well, I was fighting programming assignments and writer's block, so there's that. Anyway, here's a new chapter to RWBYS. The new Puddin chapter is about halfway done and I hope to get it out soon-ish.**

 **As always, none of this would be possible without my lovely beta annbe11. If you like Tiger's Curse, definitely check out her story.**

 **With that, on with the show!**

 **Chapter 10 - Babysitters**

 **Beacon Library**

Sanguine walked between the shelves of the library, allowing her eyes to skate over the rows and rows of books. A pestering thought in the back of her head told her this was a mistake, but she pressed on. She had to do this. It was part of the deal.

As she made the last turn, she shook the useless thoughts from her head and focused. Sanguine came to the table in the far corner that Goodwitch had described yesterday.

She was greatly surprised to see the Deputy Headmistress herself sitting there.

"I didn't know you were going to be my instructor," Sanguine said, narrowing her eyes.

"Believe me, I was as surprised as you are," Goodwitch responded as she waved for Sanguine to take a seat. "I learned about this just last night."

Sanguine sat at the table next to Goodwitch.

"So," she said, "I guess we should do this, then."

"Agreed," said Goodwitch, reaching into a bag next to her chair. "Let us begin."

* * *

 **Three Weeks Later**

The members of Team RWBYS were eating their lunch in the dining hall. Sanguine, in a most unusual fashion, had only layered her tray with a pile of food as opposed to her normal tower. The kitchen had gone through it's rotation already, so Sanguine had stopped seeing new foods and therefore slowed down her food intake. Next to her, Yang was stuffing her mouth with her own food while Blake read a book. Across the table, Ruby had her chin resting on her crossed arms as she endured Weiss' verbal assault.

"And that's not even mentioning your grades," Weiss snapped. "You realize your performance drags the rest of us down too, right?"

"Yes, Weiss," sighed Ruby, looking like she'd rather be anywhere else.

"And the same goes for the rest of you," Weiss said, now glaring at all of them. "Yang."

"Huh," Yang said around a mouthful of her ham sandwich. Weiss' face curled in disgust.

"You're not very ladylike, are you, Yang?"

Yang swallowed before giving her a sarcastic grin.

"Dainty and frail like you, snowflake? No way."

"Hmph," said Weiss, looking down her nose. "Better to be a snowflake than a boorish brute like you."

Sanguine rolled her eyes before focusing on her pasta.

"Maybe you shouldn't insult the girl who can bench press five hundred pounds, Princess."

"Why thank you for the compliment, San," Yang said, playfully flexing a bicep.

"I'm just trying to make sure these three carry themselves with the dignity that is expected out of a proper huntress," Weiss huffed. She rested her glare on Sanguine. "But you… gods above, where do I even start? I think you might be well beyond help."

"Thank you and fuck off, Princess," Sanguine said as she stood to go get seconds. She walked away, ignoring the affronted gasp that Weiss let out.

 _She_ _'s going to need thicker skin if she's going to survive in this world,_ Sanguine thought. _Not that it_ _'s really my problem._

After getting some more vegetables and some of that fried ravioli that she was currently obsessing over, Sanguine returned to the table. While she was gone, JNPR had arrived and started eating as well.

Weiss was still glaring at everyone, so at least that was the same. She was having some sort of argument with Yang while Ruby made an attempt at being a peacemaker while Blake just continued reading her book.

As Sanguine sat down, however, she saw that Blake was looking at something a few tables away. Following her gaze, Sanguine saw the four burly members of Team CRDL clustered around a girl.

A girl with brown rabbit ears.

"Hey there, bunny rabbit," said Cardin, a mocking grin on his face. "What're you doing all by yourself?"

"I'm… I'm just eating," the girl said timidly.

The other boys snickered as they sat down near her, with Cardin and Sky sitting down in a way that their long legs cut off her escape. Sanguine narrowed her eyes. She had seen this sort of thing before. She noticed Blake's fingers tightening around her book, so she likely had as well.

"Blake? Blake!"

Blake jumped as Weiss, apparently growing bored of her disagreement with Yang, turned her attentions on her.

"Yes, Weiss?"

Weiss rubbed her forehead and groaned.

"Exactly my point."

"You got a _new_ problem to harass people about?" demanded Yang, her eyes flickering back and forth between red and lavender.

"She's clearly not as bad as you dolts," Weiss muttered.

"Hey!" snapped Ruby and Yang. Weiss ignored them to continue staring at Blake.

"But you have been so far removed from the team for the last few weeks, it's impossible to ignore."

"My grades are fine. I'm not starting fights. I'm participating in class. What is there to have a problem with?" said Blake.

"See?" demanded Weiss. "You don't even know. I'm left here all alone trying to get these three into shape while you're off with your nose in a useless book."

"What of it?" asked Blake, narrowing her eyes dangerously.

"Unless they are textbooks, they won't help us with achieving our goal. Time would be better spent with your studies and preparing yourself for the real world."

"Wow," said Nora from further down the table. "Ice Queen sounds like the kind of person who would read the dictionary for fun."

"You're not a part of this discussion!" Weiss shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Nora. The other girl just blew a raspberry at her.

"You don't know anything about the real world, Princess," said Sanguine after swallowing her mouthful of food.

"Excuse me?" said Weiss, shifting her affronted glare back to her. "Who are you to talk? You didn't answer a single question on that last quiz!"

"I don't need some stupid quiz," growled Sanguine as she stabbed down with her fork. "I've lived outside the protection of the four kingdoms for years. That's all the training I need. Coming here is just a… a formality."

"I think you overestimate yourself too much," Weiss growled before shifting her attention back to Blake. "My point still stands, Blake. The both of you absolutely refuse to take this seriously and actively take part in this team's education."

Blake was now giving Weiss a burning glare.

"I didn't even ask to be on a-"

She suddenly stopped and looked at where Team CRDL and the rabbit Faunus sat. The boys were laughing as Cardin and Sky shoved the girl back and forth between them. The girl did nothing but try to keep her head down.

Gradually, the others also took notice of the girl's situation. Yang's hands curled into fists and Sanguine swore that the air suddenly felt a lot warmer.

"We should do something," said Ruby, standing up. She didn't make it more than a step before Weiss' hand caught her arm.

"Don't you dare," said Weiss, glaring at her. "You have forgotten that this is a school designed to train _warriors_. If that Faunus can't deal with a couple of bullies, then she has no business being here in the first place. Don't you think so, Pyrrha?"

"What?" said Pyrrha, surprised to be dragged into the conversation. "Well, I mean, I guess that's true, but still-"

"See?" said Weiss. "It's her own problem. She has to deal with the 'real world', as Sanguine would say."

Sanguine didn't answer. She just stood.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Weiss demanded. As Sanguine walked by, Weiss made to stop her as well.

"Princess," growled Sanguine as she stared down at her teammate, "if that hand touches me, I'm gonna break it off." Weiss' hand flinched away, allowing passage. Sanguine turned from Weiss and made her way toward Team CRDL. She could feel eyes on her the whole way and whispered conversations began as she passed. A sense of unnatural calm filled her mind even as her hands began to twitch, anticipating the upcoming flood of adrenaline. Her stride changed, shifting her weight from toe to heel and silencing her steps. She bent slightly at the waist, lowering her profile and focusing her center of gravity.

In Sanguine's mind, it was as if everything felt perfectly clear and in place after weeks of confusion.

The members of Team CRDL didn't even notice her coming until she was right next to them. Cardin was reaching his beefy hand up toward Velvet's ears when Sanguine's fingers closed around his wrist.

"What the-?" he said in surprise, spinning his head to look at her. Sanguine glared and pressed her thumbnail into Cardin's skin right below his wrist. He winced but tried to hide it. Everyone at the table suddenly noticed her, with the members of Team CRDL looking at her in surprise while the Faunus girl glanced up at her with hope.

"Leave her alone," Sanguine said to Cardin. "I'll only tell you once."

Cardin blinked in confusion before glaring at Sanguine.

"Who do you… think… you…?"

The words seemed to die out as Cardin's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. Sanguine was confused at his reaction and became even more confused when a quick glance showed the rest of Team CRDL staring at her with identical expressions.

No. Not _at_ her. _Behind_ her.

Still keeping her grip on Cardin's wrist, Sanguine turned around. She was shocked to find a large chest right in front of her. Her eyes began trailing up.

And up. And up.

A muscular young man was staring down at them. He was tall, seven feet at least, and was built like a brick wall, thick and unyielding. He had tanned skin and shaved-short black hair that seemed to frame his face, making it seem square and all the more solid. Arching, snake-like eyebrows framed a pair of dark eyes that seemed to stare right through them all with an expression that could have been carved from granite. His arms, each as large as a grown man's leg, were crossed over his chest, two of his fingers tapping impatiently. He was dressed in the Beacon school uniform, but a quick glance showed Sanguine that there were some places where the stitching was almost straining in its efforts to contain his muscles.

 _How the hell did he get behind me?_ Sanguine wondered. _He has to be_ _…_ Sanguine's eyes darted around the cafeteria to confirm that, yes, he was _literally_ the largest person in the room.

 _Nobody that size has a right to move that quietly,_ she thought. Her eyes narrowed at him, starting to formulate a plan. _Well, that_ _'s alright. If he wants to get involved, I'm happy to oblige. Strike to the eyes to disorient. Avoid his wild arm swings. Kick to groin to make him bend over. Wrap right arm around neck and use his unbalanced weight to lever him headfirst into-_

"Are you okay, Velvet?" the large man asked in a bass voice. Sanguine blinked. The rabbit Faunus nodded.

"I-I'm okay, Yatsuhashi," she said in a trembling, accented voice. She shot to her feet, picked up her tray, and scurried around his massive frame to hide. With the tall man, Yatsuhashi, staring down at them all, Team CRDL didn't make any move to stop her. Velvet peeked out from behind Yatsuhashi's bulk and looked at Sanguine with a bright blush on her face. "Th-thank you for standing up to help m-me," she stammered. "It…It means a lot to me."

Yatsuhashi gave Sanguine a nod before escorting Velvet away. Sanguine shoved Cardin's hand away and gave him and his team one last scowl before making her way back to where her team and the others were waiting. There was not much reaction outside of Yang giving her a thumbs up and Weiss was looking at the whole situation with distaste.

"Awesome work, San," Yang said as Sanguine sat back down. "Bet you could have handled that if the big guy hadn't shown up."

"Could have handled him too, if he wanted trouble," Sanguine muttered before returning to her food.

"I honestly can't believe you, Sanguine."

Sanguine grumbled to herself before meeting Weiss' disapproving gaze.

"I don't recall ever asking your fucking permission, Princess."

"You watch your tone!" snapped Weiss. "Why would you involve yourself into a situation like that?"

"Simple," Sanguine said with a shrug. "I don't like bullies."

"We are here to learn how to defeat monsters," said Weiss. "We are not here to give out charity. Now, the next time it happens, she will be even less prepared to deal with it. And that's not even mentioning the fact that you get nothing out of this situation. All you're getting out of this is responsibility for her becoming weaker than she already is."

"That's horrible," said Blake, looking stunned.

"That's reality," answered Weiss.

"It's wrong," Ruby said quietly.

"And _that_ ," Weiss said, leveling a finger at Ruby, "is why you shouldn't be here."

* * *

After their afternoon classes, Team RWBYS made their way back to their dorm room. The door beeped as it unlocked and Blake pushed it open. Ruby, Blake and Weiss had made it a few steps into the room when the silence was shattered.

 _FWEEEEEEEE!_

The three girls jumped into the air at the sound of a whistle and landed in a heap in the center of the room. Sanguine felt panic surge through her and her hand dropped to where she concealed her switchblade before she had a chance to think.

"Get off of me, you dolt!" snapped Weiss as she shoved Ruby off of her.

 _FWEEEEEEEE!_

The whistle came again, alerting the members of Team RWBYS that there were three extra people in their room.

Sanguine instantly recognized the incredibly tall young man from lunch earlier in the day - Yatsu-something, she was pretty sure his name was - but he was now dressed in a dull green sleeveless robe and some pieces of armor. The one with the whistle was a girl with brown hair highlighted with orange. She wore a beret, a pair of sunglasses, and clothes that Sanguine could assume would fall under the 'fashionable' variety. The third person was another male, but this one had brown skin, red hair, criss-crossing scars on his arms, and milk-white eyes.

"What are you doing here?!" demanded Weiss.

"Yeah," agreed Yang. "This is _our_ room."

 _FWEEEEEEEEE!_ The girl blew the whistle again before stomping her boot against the floor.

"Look alive, maggots!" she snapped. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake managed to pick themselves up off the floor as Sanguine and Yang stepped up beside them.

"Who are you?" asked Ruby.

"Glad you asked," the girl said, adjusting her glasses. "My name is Coco Adel, team leader. This is Yatsuhashi Daichi and Fox Alistair. We're Team CFVY, and we're here to get you kids to shape up."

"Shape up?" asked Yang.

"Yes," said Yatsuhashi. "Professor Ozpin has expressed… disappointment with your growth as a team."

"So we're going to do what we can to get you guys up to snuff," said Coco.

"Ugh," Weiss scoffed under her breath. "I think we can handle that."

Coco instantly snapped her gaze onto Weiss.

"Was that back-sass I just heard from you?!"

"Ah! N-no ma'am!" stuttered Weiss.

"Pushups! Now!"

Weiss looked confused.

"W-what?"

"NOW!" _FWEEEEEEEE!_

The next moment, Weiss had dropped to the ground and started doing pushups like her life depended on it. The other members of Team RWBYS watched her for a moment before turning to look at Coco.

"Where's your fourth member?" asked Blake. Fox stepped forward and opened his mouth.

"I'm here!" said a female voice. To Sanguine's surprise, Velvet, the rabbit Faunus from earlier that day, dashed into the room, panting a bit. She had exchanged her uniform for a form-fitting armored bodysuit.

"Hey, Hunny-Bun," Coco said with a smile before kissing Velvet on the cheek. Sanguine noticed Weiss skip a beat on her pushups while Velvet's face lit up in a blush.

"Coco!" she whined, batting at the other girl's shoulder. Coco just laughed. Velvet then took notice of Weiss on the ground before glaring at her leader again. "Coco, I don't think you're allowed to tell them to do pushups."

Weiss froze.

"What?"

"Heh heh heh," chuckled Coco. "Sorry, kid. I was just having a bit of fun. You can get up now." Weiss did so, giving a hateful glare at Coco as she climbed to her feet. "Anyway," continued Coco, "we should get down to business. Fox came up with the idea of us doing one-on-one talks. Weiss, you're with Fox. Blake, Velvet. Sanguine, you're talking to the Big Guy. Ruby, you're going to come with me. And Yang, I'll find you after I'm done talking to Ruby and then we can chat. Everyone good with that?"

There was a moment of silence as everyone looked at each other.

"Cool. Break." Coco gave one last blast on her whistle, startling everyone.

"I'm really getting sick of whistles," muttered Weiss.

* * *

 **Team CFVY** **'s dorm room**

"Um, Coco?"

"Yes, Ruby?"

"Why are we doing this?"

Coco had practically dragged Ruby off to the CFVY dorms and started pulling clothes out of her closet. Upperclassmen had significantly bigger rooms than Team RWBYS's and was actually split into a common room with two two-person rooms attached. As they came in, Ruby noticed that the two beds in this room had been pushed together, but she didn't bring it up. Coco had immediately slapped a black beret on Ruby's head and shoved her in front of a mirror before she started holding different outfits on hangers up to Ruby.

"Just checking to see what looks good on you," Coco said, discarding an orange tracksuit with a grimace of distaste. "Why do I even have this?" she muttered. She held a white floor-length dress in front of Ruby and gave a nod of approval. "I hear you're having trouble adjusting to being a leader."

Ruby gave an awkward laugh.

"A little bit, yeah."

"I've seen Weiss shouting at you all for the past few days," continued Coco. "Why haven't you done anything about it?"

"Well, she- wait! You've been watching us?" said Ruby, looking shocked. Coco rolled her eyes.

"It's called 'recon'. Now, answer the question."

"Well…" said Ruby. "I mean, I don't want to make her madder than she already is. We worked well together during initiation, but she's been angry all the time since then. I feel like doing anything about it would just make it worse." She sighed and adjusted the hat as Coco held a blue and black suit up to Ruby.

"Soooo," drawled Coco, "in an effort to keep the peace, you let her just walk all over you, her leader? You let her belittle you and insult you?" She shook her head. "How do you expect her to follow your lead in the thick of battle if you can't even lead a lunch conversation?"

Ruby flinched.

"I-I was hoping she would just get it out of her system," said Ruby. "Y'know, let her run out of steam 'til…"

"Til what?" asked Coco, admiring a red prom-dress.

"Til we were on a mission," answered Ruby. "Then I would start acting all… leader-y and then-"

"And then get you and all your friends eaten by Grimm," interrupted Coco.

"Huh?" Ruby said, blinking in surprise.

"Ruby, being a leader isn't something you can just turn off and on," said Coco. "It's something you gotta live up to. Day-in, day-out." Ruby sighed sadly, but Coco gave her a comforting smile. "I'm saying this from experience. It's okay if you want to goof off a bit now and then, but you always have to remember that you are a leader. Slacking off too much on that will only hurt you and your teammates when you go into the field."

Coco looked back and forth between two business outfits before tossing one back into the closet, where it landed perfectly on the hanger rod.

"Let me put this another way for you," she said. "Let's say that you being a leader is… like this hat." She tapped the hat on Ruby's head for emphasis. "It's something you wear all around. But with your outfits, you've got your formal wear," she held up the business outfit she had not discarded., "Then you've got your exercise wear," and she now held up a burgundy track suit. "Finally, you've got your day-out-on-the-town wear." She held out a white sun dress with a pair of dark leggings. "You can wear as many different outfits as you want for each given situation, but just remember…" She smiled and tapped Ruby's head. "It's always gotta work with the hat. Get it?"

Ruby thought for a moment before she nodded.

"I think so."

As she nodded, the hat wobbled off and fell to the floor. Coco laughed.

"That's a good start," she said.

* * *

 **Beacon Courtyard**

"I mean, where do I even start?" groaned Weiss. She was sitting on a bench next to Fox in a part of the courtyard devoid of people. "Blake isn't as bad as the rest, but she's always so distant and quiet. I keep getting the feeling she's not committed to being on a team, and I can tell she resents me."

Fox raised a finger and opened his mouth.

"And Sanguine's even worse!" Weiss snapped. "The only thing I can say in her favor is that she at least has the decency to be honest with the fact she doesn't like me. But living with her… gods above, she drives me up the wall! Did you know she hasn't turned in a single homework assignment in all the weeks we've been school? She's going to drag us to the absolute bottom of our year. I'm certain of it!"

Weiss groaned and rubbed at her brow.

"Yang… ugh. She's loud and obnoxious and an absolute brute, but at the very least she's good at what she does. I just wish she would do more to discipline her sister." At that statement, Weiss groaned again, combing her fingers through her hair. "Ugh… _Ruby_. What an enormous waste! Why would _she_ be chosen as team leader? Half the time she doesn't know what she's doing, and the other half she doesn't care and just acts like a child. Ugh!" Weiss let out a snarl. "If I were in charge, I would have had this team in shape ages ago."

She stewed in silence for a long moment. Again, Fox opened his mouth.

"Whatever," Weiss said, standing up. "It's not like I could expect a follower like you to understand." With that, she stomped off.

Fox was left sitting there alone. He sighed and leaned back on the bench. He was sure that Coco was going to love this.

* * *

 **Beacon Southern Gardens**

This place was quite beautiful, Blake admitted to herself. She and Velvet were surrounded by flowers and cobblestone paths, all of which were interspersed with stone benches and comfortable patches of grass. She could see herself relaxing here with a good book. She made a mental note to do so later.

Shifting her eyes back to Velvet, Blake let herself be lost in thought. She wasn't quite sure what to think of this Faunus. A few hours ago, she had seen her being harassed by a couple of asshole humans. Now, Velvet was walking through the gardens and tending to the flowers like she didn't have a care in the world.

"It's a lovely day, isn't it?" asked Velvet, snapping Blake back to the present.

"I… I suppose it is," Blake answered hesitantly. Velvet gave her a smile

"Not many people take time to stop and smell the roses." She giggled as she delicately stroked the petals of a flower. "Or carnations, in this case."

Silence fell over them as a wind blew through the plants, making all the flowers dance back and forth.

"Velvet," Blake finally said.

"Yes?"

"Why did you put up with Cardin and his teammates?"

Velvet gave Blake a confused glance.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You're an upperclassman," Blake said in an exasperated tone. "You could easily put them all in their place. But you just put up with them humiliating you? Why is that?"

"Two reasons," Velvet answered, leading Blake to a nearby bench so they could sit down. "Firstly, I can take it."

"But you shouldn't _need_ to take it," said Blake.

"As long as bullies like Cardin think I'm weak, they'll focus on me," said Velvet. "Therefore, other Faunus at this school get to live another day without that kind of treatment. If I were to 'put them in their place', they would just focus on somebody weaker to bully." Velvet clasped her hands in her lap and looked down at them before she smiled. "And besides, whenever people like him make me feel small, I always have Coco and my teammates to build me back up again."

"How did that actually start?" Blake asked, giving into her curiosity. "You and Coco, I mean."

"Middle of our first semester," Velvet said, her smile growing with fond memories. "I started at Beacon wearing a hat to cover my ears. It was cramped and uncomfortable, but I didn't want people to notice me. I was bullied a lot in middle school, so I didn't want it to repeat. Anyway, when I told my teammates I was a Faunus, they were very accepting of me. The next day, however, Coco stole the hat right off my head and put it on. I tried to get it back, but she was too tall. I was stunned as she dragged the four of us to class. I was certain my life was about to become miserable. Sure enough, some boy tried to bully me in our first class. I was having flashbacks to my days in middle school when…" She stopped and giggled. "That was when Coco slugged him in the face. Broke his nose. Got three days of detention for that. Then three more days when someone tried to mock me in history." Velvet giggled again. "Those first two days got her almost four weeks of detention, but she wouldn't back down. I asked her why and she just said that it's always better to be honest with who I am and trust that my friends will be there for me." Velvet giggled again. "She's still wearing that hat, by the way." She then gave Blake a significant look before her eyes darted up to Blake's bow. "Just some food for thought, I guess."

Velvet looked back to the flowers and sighed happily as Blake stared down at the cobblestones, thinking over what she had just heard.

"What was the second reason?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"You said there were two reasons you put up with the treatment of people like Cardin. What was the second?"

"Oh, right," Velvet's smiled dimmed slightly. "The second reason is that it would be proving him right."

"What?"

Velvet shifted in her seat.

"People give themselves all sorts of reasons to dislike the Faunus. The main reason, however, is what they see in the media."

"The White Fang," said Blake.

"Yes," Velvet said with a nod. "Just look at what they've become in the last ten years. They've been making humans think that all Faunus are violent menaces. And if I lashed out at Cardin and everyone else, I would be proving them right. It would only be giving them a reason to hate me even more. It's better for me to just not do anything."

"So that's it?" demanded Blake, feeling a surge of anger. "You just allow yourself to be a doormat? A martyr?"

Velvet turned back to Blake and met her gaze levelly.

"Better to be a martyr than a monster," she said.

Blake honestly didn't have a response to that

* * *

 **Roof of Beacon Dorm Building**

Sanguine took another puff of her cigar as she continued to stare at Yatsuhashi, who sat cross-legged in front of her with his eyes closed. After a moment of savoring the taste of the smoke, she tipped her head back and blew out a smoke ring, a trick she had learned as a kid. She had no idea if the big man currently babysitting her approved of her smoking, but he hadn't exactly done anything to stopped her either. She shifted where she sat on the ground and resumed staring at him.

"You gonna say something?" Sanguine finally asked.

"Only when necessary," Yatsuhashi answered. Sanguine arched an eyebrow.

"But aren't you supposed to be giving me a lecture?"

"Not really."

"…oh."

The silence dragged on again, only broken when Sanguine puffed on her cigar.

"You want a cigar?" she asked, raising her cigar to her lips again.

"Not right now," he said, "but thank you anyway."

Again, there was silence. Sanguine started drumming her fingers on her boot.

"Okay," she finally said, "this is getting really irritating. For fuck's sake, at least say _something._ "

"Very well," he said, opening his eyes. "Thank you for helping Velvet at lunch today. It showed me you are a good person."

Sanguine scoffed and puffed on her cigar before blowing another smoke ring.

"Believe me, of the many things I am, a good person is not one of them."

Yatsuhashi paused, watching her.

"And why do you think that?"

Sanguine shrugged.

"Things I've seen. Things I've done. Take your pick."

"I don't believe that," said Yatsuhashi. "And, honestly, I don't think you do either."

"Well, that's on you," Sanguine said. She turned to face away from him and focused on her cigar.

Not another word was said between them.

* * *

 **Beacon Weight Room**

Yang grunted as sweat trickled down her brow, but gritted her teeth as she pushed the barbell up once again.

"You sure you're okay, Yang?" Coco asked from where she was spotting Yang.

"…I'm good," Yang said in a strained voice, slowly lowering the five-hundred-fifty-pound barbell for another rep. "Just… just a bit more weight than I'm used to."

"Alright then," said Coco. "Let's do three more reps and call it a day."

Yang nodded, not wanting to waste the breath. She raised and lowered the barbell two more times, but her arms were shaking on the third. Suddenly fearful of dropping it, Yang swung it backward to lock on to the posts of her bench. The barbell hung crookedly, but Yang didn't care. She let out a long breath as she sat up, feeling the sweat drip down her face and fall from her hair.

"Nice work, Yang," said Coco, handing her a bottle of water. Yang took it with a gasp of thanks before draining it in moments. As she did so, Coco took the crooked barbell in both hands and lifted it from the pegs. Her expression didn't even twinge as she carefully placed the barbell where it had been when they started. Yang stared at her dumbfounded.

"How are you so strong?" she asked when she finally had enough air to speak. Coco smiled.

"I carry a heavy weapon," she said simply.

Yang nodded before wiping her face with a nearby towel.

When Coco had asked her where she wanted to hold their chat, Yang had immediately suggested the gym. She'd been itching to do some weight training all week.

"I've actually been looking for a weight partner," said Yang. "We could maybe make this a regular thing if you want. Wednesdays and Saturdays work for you?"

"I'm good on Wednesdays," Coco answered with a smile, "but I'd prefer Sundays. Velvet and I make dinner together on Saturdays and I don't want to smell like a sweat rag."

"Good point," said Yang. Then she smiled. "You and her are pretty adorable."

"It's a talent," Coco said with a smirk. "How about you? You got a boyfriend or whatever."

"I… I got a girl back in Patch," said Yang. "Her name is Lily. She's a musician."

"Really? That's cool."

"Yeah, it's pretty fun," Yang agreed. "She's got a band called the Acoustic Knights, and they're pretty cool. They mostly play out of peoples' garages, but Lily's got dreams." Yang shook out any remaining tingles in her arms and stood up. "Me and her used to go to a lot of parties around Patch. We would talk about how I would be a Huntress and how she would make awesome songs about me. Then…" Yang stopped and sighed. "When it came time for me to leave for Beacon, I think it finally hit her what I was doing. She didn't want me to leave." Yang sighed again and tossed the towel over her shoulder. "Well, I don't really know where we're gonna be in the future."

"Hmm," said Coco. "Well, that's outside of Beacon for the moment. How are things inside Beacon?"

"Well, I'm doing fine with Ruby. I'm really proud that she got made team leader. Weiss is… yeah, I'm not touching that. Blake and Sanguine… man, I barely know anything about them. Doesn't really help that they're both so distant." She gave Coco a pleading look. "Any advice for that?"

Coco smiled again and readjusted her sunglasses.

"Just make sure you're there for them and that you support them. You guys will find your rhythm. Trust follows soon after."

Yang nodded, a small smile returning to her face.

"I'll do that."

* * *

 **Team CFVY** **'s Dorm**

The four members of Team CFVY were sitting around the small table in their common room as Velvet passed out four mugs of hot cocoa. The bright orange light of the sunset streamed through the window blinds and dragged across the carpet.

"Well," said Coco, blowing on her drink to cool it. "I'd say we made… adequate progress today." Fox gave her a deadpan look. "Oh, don't give me that, Foxy. You knew what we were getting into."

"What are your thoughts, Coco?" Velvet asked, sitting on the couch next to her girlfriend.

"Welp, Ruby's a goofball, but I think she's definitely got what it takes." She chuckled. "She picks up things almost as fast as she can run, but she's gotta stick on the right path. Yang… I think Yang has a good head on her shoulders. She's just gotta be more focused on the present and about what she can do. Foxy?"

Fox closed his eyes and released a very long breath.

"Yeah, that's about what I figured," said Coco. "Vel?"

"Blake really cares about doing what's right," Velvet said with a smile. "She seems to have issues with trust, but a little non-threatening dialog could go a long way for her. I think she just needs to get used to being on a team."

"Sounds good," said Coco before she turned to the last member of her team. "What do you say, Yahtzee? How's Sanguine doing?"

Yatsuhashi stared into his cocoa for a few long moments.

"She didn't say much," he finally said, "but she said she does not believe she is a good person."

"Wow. Heavy," said Coco.

"I don't believe it," he said. "I saw how she stood up for Velvet. And besides, she's here to learn to be a Huntress. I think it's just going to take some work to get her to realize that."

"I agree," said Coco. "Ozpin has their first stint of community service set up for Saturday afternoon. You and Velvet will take them downtown." She gave them both a look. "Remember, you're only supervising. Those girls have to do the work. Got it?" Yatsuhashi and Velvet nodded. "Good. Welp, let's get some shut eye. We'll talk more about this tomorrow."

With that, Team CFVY started preparing for bed.


End file.
